
t * t. 


»f 


* <^> * 


f * 


4" * *$" 


*.+ 


* 4" * 


+ « 


t * t 


»t 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

— — — — 

Chap. Copyright No 

Shelk_J>_3__. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS 



A MANUAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 




PUBLISHED BY 
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. 

Louis Klopsch, Proprietor, 
BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK. 






Copyright 1897 
By LOUIS KLOPSCH. 

Copyright 1884 
By C. H. KENT. 




DEDICATION. 



TO THE 

Young Men of America, 

WITH KINOE8T REGARDS FOR THEIR WELFARE, AND A HOPE THAT NONE WHO- 

BEAD KAY FAIL OF REACHING THE HIGHEST RO^ND OF 

USEFULNESS, AND OF ENJOYING TO THEIR 

FULLEST CAPACITY 

The Fruits of a Beautiful Life. 

THIS VOLUME IS MOST RESFECTFULLY DEDfCATED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



(ojJteHts. 



PAGE. 

A BOY LOST, 9 

Must Have a Guide, 15. 
SOWING AND REAPING, 18 

Patiently Waiting, 19; Stick to Your Busi- 
ness, 20; Don't Cut the Corners, 21; 
Laying the Foundation, 21; The Fall of 
the Pemberton Mill, 24; The Davenport 
Bridge, 24; Character- Building, 25; Ad- 
miral Farragut at Ten Years of Age, 28. 

FORTUNE, 31 

What to Do, 33. 

GOOD READING 35 

Good Books to Read, 37. 

HEALTH, 41 

Good Living, 42; Cleanliness, 43; Getting 
Up in the Morning, 44; How to Develop 
Lung-Power, 45. 

HABITS, 48 

A Horrible Death, 49; Dress, 49. 
HOW TO DESERVE SUCCESS, ...... 52 

Politeness, 52; Two Ways of Doing the 
Same Thing, 52; Did it Pay? 54; Profit- 
able Politeness, 55; Please Your Em- 
ployers, 56; Make Your Employer's 
Business Yours, 58; Put on the Appear- 
ance of Business, 6r; Don't Be Above 
Your Business, 64; Choice of Boarding- 
Houses, 65. 
HOW TO INSURE SUCCESS, ....... 68 

Pluck, 68; A Sermon in a Paragraph, 69; 
Waiting for the Elevator, 69; Blew Up 
His Ships— Burned the Bridges, 72; Do 
Not Procrastinate, 73. 

(5) 



6 Contents. 

PAGE. 

THE BATTLE OF LIFE, 75 

The Conflict is Yours — Are You Ready for 
the Battle? 75; Opposition, 76; Gen- 
eral Zachary Taylor, 77; On the Voyage 
—Each One His Own Pilot, 78; What 
Every Young Man Must Have, 81; 
Don't Give Up, 81; Perseverance, 82; 
Catching the Train, 83; Ten Thousand 
Dollars Lost ! Ten Thousand Dollars 
Won ! 84; Experience Must Be Paid 
For, 86. 

HOW SOME MEN HAVE SUCCEEDED, . 88 
Economy the Secret, 88; Working to Win, 
91; Keep Out of Debt, 93. 

HINDRANCES TO A SUCCESSFUL CA- 
REER, 95 

Is Poverty a Hindrance ? 95; Money Well 
Earned Goes the Farthest, 97; There 
are Many Things Money Cannot Buy, 



BRAINS AND LABOR: RESULT— SUCCESS, 103 
Brain-Power, 103; The Path-Finder, 104; 
Want a Turnpike, 106; Born Great, 107; 
How One Man Won, no. 

MEN WHO STARTED AT THE FOOT OF 

THE LADDER 114 

President Johnson, the Tailor, 123; Hiram 
Sibley, the Famous Millionaire of West- 
ern New York, 123; A Plucky Boy, 126; 
Gun-Boats, 129; The Great Undertaking, 
130; The St. Louis Bridge, 131. 

WHAT BRINGS HAPPINESS, 133 

Happiness vs. Gold, 133; One Wealthy 
Lady's Experience, 135; Poor Richard's 
Advice, 137. 



Conte7its. 



INDULGENCE OF APPETITE, 139 

Ruined by Whisky, 139; "Wanted — A 
Boy to Attend Bar," 146; Temperance, 
148; Tobacco as Vile as Whisky, 149; 
"Tobacco Does Not Hurt Me," 149; 
Delraonico's, 150. 

CIGAR-STUBS AND OPIUM, 155 

The Delectable Ingredients of the Modern 
Cigarette — A Growing Vice, 155; Smok- 
er's Catarrh, 157. 

WHISKY VS. HOME 159 

How Are the Mighty Fallen? 159; Fire, 
Sleigh-Ride, etc., 172; Boston Red-Tape 
— Two Beautiful Children Frozen to 
Death, 189; James Noxx's Home, 199; A 
Lesson From the Noxx Family, 206. 

HAPPY HOMES 210 

A Wife, 210; Falling in Love, 213; Business 
is Business, 214; The Modern Belle, 216; 
Good House-Keepers are a Rarity, 218; 
What Iowa Girls Are Taught, 221; Un- 
happily Mated, 224; The Kind of Girl 
to Choose, 226; Some of the Evidences 
of Conjugal Felicity, 227; A Wife to 
Her Husband, 232; Newly-Married 
Couples, 234; "In Ye Olden Time," 
236; There is Nothing Too Good For 
Man, 238; A Song For the " Hearth and 
Home," 239. 

THE MAGNITUDE OF TRIFLES 241 

Trifles— Little Things, 243; The Chicago 
Fire, 244; A City Destroyed, 246; Fourth 
of July Time, 247; Discovery of Steam, 
250; Electricity — Its Power, 252; Small 
Beginnings, 255; Action! Action!! Ac- 
tion!!! 256. 



8 Contents. 

PAGE. 

EXAMPLES OF HEROISM, 258 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 258; Florence Night- 
ingale, 261; Every-Day Heroes, 263; A 
True Hero, ; 266 Frank Hamilton's Tragic 
Death, 268. 

SUBLIMITY OF A PURPOSE, 271 

The Emperor of Russia's Way of Building 
Railroads, 273; Independence, 274; Crazy 
Inventor, 275; "Fulton's Folly," 275; 
The World's Martyrs, 276; Palissy, the 
Potter, 277; The Impassable Barrier, 280; 
Opposition, 283; The Discoverer of the 
Planet Vulcan, 286; Communism, 286; 
Revolution Among the M. D.'s, 287; The 
Old Meeting-House that Stood On the 
Hill, 289; The Student, 291; The Mys- 
teries of the Centuries, 294. 

EXAMPLES OF MEN WHO HAVE LIVED 

FOR A PURPOSE, 298 

Horace Maynard — Setting His Mark High, 
298; Johns Hopkins's Purpose, 298; The 
Wrecker, 300; Saved From the Wreck, 
303; Peter Cooper, the Great Philan- 
thropist, 305. 

DELUSIONS OF THE AGE, 313 

The "Mirage," 313; Thirst, 314; Thirsting 
for Fame, 316; Thirsting for Honors, 318. 



HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS. 



A BOY LOST! 

In September, 1878, we spent a few days 
with a farmer residing upon one of the 
lofty hills of the "Granite State"— the 
Switzerland of America. The location was 
one of rare beauty; admirable for enjoying 
a view, wonderfully diversified, charming, 
sublime. The harmonious blending of 
mountain and valley, lake and forest; the 
cottages of the farmers, nestling among the 
hills, or high up on some lofty eminence; 
the gorgeous hues of the maples and other 
deciduous trees, rich in color, with all the 
diversity of shading imaginable, surpassing 
the highest conception of the best imita- 
tions of nature's art-painting — all com- 
bined to form a landscape of marvelous 
attractions. To our eyes it was a scene 
unsurpassed — one that no human skill could 
transfer to canvas. We are inclined to be- 
lieve nature has not duplicated it. 

Looking southward from our eminence, 
down across well-cultivated fields, were the 
grand old woods, beyond and above which 
arose a high ridge of hills sweeping around 
in a half circle, east and west, where they 



io How to Achieve Success. 

terminated abruptly, leaving gateways wide 
open, through which could be seen vil- 
lages with their church spires, and the 
dwellings of the farmers. 

Looking westward, there arose other 
ranges of hills still more remote, covered 
with the native forest. The Connecticut 
river — with Bellows falls, eleven miles 
away, the roar of which could be distinctly 
heard — flowed between the two States. 
Beyond the river towered ridge after ridge,, 
growing loftier as they receded, until lost 
in the famous Green mountains of Ver- 
mont, fifty miles distant. 

One who has never witnessed a New 
England sunset cannot conceive of the gor- 
geousness of such a scene. Old Monad- 
nock's lofty head loomed up, due south, 
forty miles away. Beacon fires on a Fourth 
of July night have here been lighted, flash- 
ing their smiles upon Bunker Hill monu- 
ment, seventy-five miles to the southward. 
To the northeast, one hundred miles dis- 
tant, we almost seemed to see the White 
mountains up among the clouds. 

Having scanned the most striking ob- 
jects in the distance, we will look at those 
less prominent. A little way to the east is 
a lakelet surrounded by hills, its margin 
skirted with forest trees, its surface placid, 
its waters cold and deep. Looking south- 
west over a forest of evergreen trees, on a 



How to Achieve Success. n 

plain, is a little country village with its 
white cottages. Just beyond this lies an- 
other exceedingly beautiful lakelet. For 
more than a century it has been a favorite 
resort. The late Rev. Dr. Vinton and fam- 
ily, of New York City, spent many a sum- 
mer vacation, enjoying the hospitality of a 
farmer's home near by, or boating on the 
lake, or fishing daily in its waters. One of 
the most remarkable facts is, that of the 
many thousands who have here bathed, 
fished, sailed, and skated, none has ever 
been drowned. 

We now come to the place and point of 
our story. The home that now affords us 
a delightful resting-place superseded the 
original log-cabin, built when the country 
was a "howling wilderness." The entire 
region was then covered with a dense for- 
est, except the little clearing which had 
been made around the homes of the early 
pioneers. There were no roads, except 
foot-paths, or "Indian trails," and the 
guide-boards were "blazed" trees. About 
one hundred and fifty years ago a man and 
wife and a little son named Jacob, had their 
home in that cabin. The father, as time 
permitted, cleared the forest to broaden his 
fields for cultivation, to grow his grain and 
vegetables. 

One pleasant afternoon the little lad 
asked his mother if he might go out and 



12 How to Achieve Success. 

see his father chop down the great trees. 
The mother said he might go, and return 
with his father at night. When the day's 
labor was over, the father returned to his 
cabin. The mother, not seeing her little 
son with him, asked, "Where is Jacob?" 
The father did not know — had not seen 
him. Hurriedly they went out to look for 
the lost child. They called aloud, and 
searched until night's sable drapery settled 
down upon the black forest, but he was not 
found. They returned to their lonely cabin. 
It was very dark within. The light of that 
home, the little sunbeam, was not there. 
The supper had been prepared and was on 
the table. There lay the little pewter plate; 
there stood the little chair. Each whis- 
pered "missing." The rude playthings 
upon the floor whispered "missing." The 
supper was untouched; how could they eat! 
All night long they watched. How could 
they close their eyes in sleep when the fate 
of little Jacob was weighing them down, 
crushing out their fondest hopes which had 
been centered and bound up in their little 
treasure! In vain did they pile the wood 
upon the fire, and set a light in the window, 
hoping to attract his weary feet in their 
wanderings homeward. In vain did they 
peer out into the pitchy darkness, or call, 
"Jacob! Jacob! O, Jacob!" In vain did 
they listen, hoping to hear the child's voice 



How to Achieve Success. 13 

calling to papa or mamma to come quick! 
No responses came, save the doleful "hoot" 
of some great owl, or the growl of bears, 
for they were dwellers in the woods. The 
harrowing and most distressing question 
would come to them: "Has Jacob been 
killed by the bears? Are they growling 
over his bones with whetted appetites for 
more human blood?" 

The long night passed slowly away. 
Early in the morning light the father has- 
tened to the nearest neighbors, a mile 
away, to tell of their great distress. The 
news was sent speedily to other neighbors, 
and with alacrity and sympathy all re- 
sponded The entire day was spent in the 
most vigorous and careful search, but not a 
trace could be discovered. Another night 
of fearful forebodings drove sleep from the 
disconsolate family. The second day 
dawned. Great numbers came to join in 
the hunt. When the sun again went down 
behind the green hills of Vermont, no tid- 
ings had been brought to the sorrowing 
parents. Not a foot-print had been seen. 
The night set in; the deepest gloom over- 
shadowed that humble cottage — black 
darkness of despair. 

The morning of the third day came at last. 
It is said that five hundred men came that 
day to join in the hunt, the news having 
spread to the more thickly settled neigh- 



14 How to Achieve Success. 

borhoods. They were earnest men, and 
they engaged in the search with a deter- 
mination to find the boy or learn some- 
thing of his fate. The day wore away, and 
all had returned from the hunt, the prob- 
lem unsolved — a mystery of mysteries. All 
were preparing to return to their homes, 
having abandoned all hopes of finding the 
boy; further search was declared useless 
and hopeless. The mother learned the de- 
cision they had made and in almost frantic 
agony she came to the door and said that if 
she only knew that little Jacob was dead 
she would be satisfied; but the terrible 
thought that he might still be alive, sick, dy- 
ing of hunger and cold, alone, with no kind 
hand to soothe his last moments, was 
agony to her. Brave men wept who never 
shed a tear before. Her anguish moved 
them to activity. It was proposed that 
one more effort should be made at once, 
although night was near at hand. They 
form into companies, each taking separate 
directions. Signals are agreed upon, and 
they quickly disappear in the woods. A 
few remain to console the mother. In 
breathless silence they stand around the 
door, hoping to hear a signal. At last the 
echo of a distant gun away down by the 
lake reverberates up through the woods. It 
is a relief. A trace, a shoe, or hat, or his bones, 
perhaps, have been found. Anxiously they 



How to Achieve Success. 15 

listen, hoping against hope, to hear an- 
other signal. It comes; he is found! "Is 
he alive or dead?" In breathless silence all 
are eager to hear. Hearts almost cease to 
beat, so great is the intense anxiety, fearing 
they might not hear the last signal. It 
comes — "Jacob is alive!" The old woods 
re-echo the gladsome refrain: "Jacob is 
alive!" "Is alive!" "Alive!" reverberate 
through the valleys and over the hill-tops. 
Companies far away catch the echoes, as 
one company after another passes the glad- 
some tidings along: "Jacob is found." 
The old woods ring as never before, from 
five hundred voices in glad shouts of joy. 
Gun after gun answers other guns in carry- 
ing the news to the most distant. The vic- 
torious party soon come in sight, bearing 
triumphantly the little hero on their shoul- 
ders, seated on a hastily constructed 
"chair" made of poles and evergreen 
"boughs, and present him alive and well to 
the overjoyed mother. There was joy in 
that home that night. 

MUST HAVE A GUIDE. 

People unaccustomed to travel in our 
country, when they are about to start on 
their first journey, procure the latest guide- 
book and consult it carefully, and then take 
it along with them that they may not make 
any mistakes, or get on a wrong train, to 



1 6 How to Achieve Success. 

be carried in a wrong direction. We have 
seen persons almost frantic lest they should 
make a mistake. Every time the train 
stopped they would hop up and ask the 
conductor, or brakeman, or passengers, 
'Ts this Albany?" or whatever place they 
were to stop at. 

Now a journey of a few days is nothing 
in comparison to a journey for life. Yet 
how heedless and unconcerned many 
young men are about it. They "don't 
care." When they start out on that track 
they are on a down grade, and every revo- 
lution increases their momentum. They 
are like the engineer, who, neglecting to 
apply the brakes in time, lost control of his 
train, and all went to destruction. We see 
young men with noble talents, going from 
homes where everything has been done 
that could be done, to fit them for honor- 
able positions in society, disregarding the 
pleadings of a kind father, the tears of a 
devoted and anxious mother and a loving 
sister, and plunging into dissipations. They 
are on the down grade, and all the signals 
and alarm-bells are warning them of the 
fearful risks they are running, and the im- 
pending dangers just ahead. Blind and 
deaf to all, they rush on in their mad career 
to swift destruction. Many a father would 
give all he is worth, thousands of dollars, 
yea, even a hundred thousand dollars, if he 



How to Achieve Success. 17 

had it, if his son would only come back to 
the home he has left. Many a father has 
bowed his head in shame over the down- 
ward course of a wayward son, and gone 
down to the grave before his time in deep- 
est grief. Some have had the sad ex- 
perience of standing over the grave of a 
ruined son, as a gentleman did in France. 
Read what he said as he stood at the grave 
of his profligate son: 

"Gentlemen/'said the father, in a voice 
full of emotion, "the body before me was 
that of my son. He was a young man in 
the prime of life, with a sound constitu- 
tion, which ought to have insured him a 
life of a hundred years. But misconduct, 
drunkenness, and debauchery, of the most 
disgraceful kind, brought him in the flower 
of his age to the ditch which you see be- 
fore you. Let this be an example to you 
and to your children. Let us go hence/' 

We have said what we have in our 
prelude, with the hope of arresting the at- 
tention of every young man into whose 
hands this little book may fall, and that it 
may be a true guide to him every day as 
long as he shall live, a guide to the only 
road to prosperity and happiness — the 
pathway to heaven. 



1 8 How to Achieve Success. 



SOWING AND REAPING 

Think the good, 

And not the clever; 

Thoughts are seeds 

That grow forever, 

Bearing richest fruits in life. 

Such alone can make 

The thinker 

Strong to conquer in the strife. 

Love the good, 

And not the clever. 

Noble men ! 

The world can never 

Cease to praise the good they've done. 

They alone the true 

Who gather 

Harvests which their deeds have done. 

Do the good, 

And not the clever. 

Fill thy life 

With true endeavor; 

Strive to be the noblest man, 

Not what others do, 

But, rather, 

Do the very best you can. 

— F. H. Hoadley. 

The inevitable law of whatsoever a far- 
mer sows, that must he reap in harvest, is 
equally true in the physical world. The 
farmer sows wheat and always gets wheat 
in return. Nature never changes or re- 
verses her laws. If the farmer fails to plow 
and cultivate his land in the spring-time, 



How to Achieve Success. 19 

and sow his seed early, he will have no 
wheat in harvest, but weeds will grow in- 
stead, and sap the fertility of his soil. If a 
young man fails to sow the good seed in 
the morning of his days, to cultivate his 
mind early in life, and store it with valu- 
able and useful information, he will also 
fail of reaping the reward that he hopes to 
obtain eventually. If the golden oppor- 
tunities are suffered to pass unheeded, the 
golden harvest-time will never come. You 
cannot be idle for years and keep your 
mind fresh and vigorous, and quick and 
sharp to learn and retain what is learned. 
The hardening process cannot be over- 
come. You suffer a loss that cannot be 
made good, however hard you may try. 

PATIENTLY WAITING. 

The farmer sows the grain in early 
spring, that he may reap in autumn. He 
has to wait for the seed to germinate and 
pass through all the varied processes until 
it is matured. He does not plow it up in a 
week or a month, because it has not ma- 
tured. He has to wait patiently for the full 
maturity of the ripened grain. 

One of the greatest mistakes young men 
are liable to make lies in unwillingness to 
wait for the harvest. Because their labor, 
their sowing, does not bear fruit imme- 
diately, they throw up the scheme to try 



20 How to Achieve Success. 

something else, which in its turn is also 
abandoned. They are continually chang- 
ing, and the oftener they change the more 
unsettled become their minds and the 
greater the difficulty to buckle down to 
one thing and stick to it. They desire im- 
mediate returns for their investments, and 
because they cannot get them, they sell out 
at a sacrifice and go into something else. 
It has been well said that if any young man 
would go into any legitimate business and 
stick to it for ten years he would become 
independent. It requires courage, pa- 
tience, and nerve. 

There is not so much in knowing what is 
the best thing to do, as there is in per- 
sistent adherence to the work we under- 
take. 

STICK TO YOUR BUSINESS. 

The secret of every man's success, who 
has worked his way up from poverty to 
affluence, is that he persistently applied 
himself to his legitimate business, early and 
late, ignoring all outside business, paying 
no attention whatever to the many schemes 
offered, which promise great returns for 
small investments, however flattering they 
may be. We have often seen good mechan- 
ics who could earn three dollars per day 
in the shop, trying to run a farm, or rais- 
ing potatoes and vegetables that cost them 



How to Achieve Success. 21 

at least four times as much as they would 
have cost, if bought of dealers. Some peo- 
ple conceive the idea that their neighbors' 
business yields vastly greater profits than 
their own. A weak and vacillating mind 
never accomplishes anything. A man un- 
dertook to run a barber shop. He under- 
took to shave three men at once. They all 
got mad and left without being shaved, 
and the barber got mad because he had not 
shaved anybody. "Unstable as water, thou 
shalt not excel." 

don't "cut the corners." 

A great many young men are inclined to 
clip off the corners, to round them off 
carelessly, and the more they clip the 
smaller becomes the circle, narrowing 
down their chances every round. Don't 
cut your corners. Leave them square as a 
brick. Maintain all the ground and hold 
all the chances you have ; add to, instead of 
contracting. Your success depends upon 
holding your ground firmly; yielding none 
and adding when you can. 

LAYING THE FOUNDATION. 

' ' Be true to yourself at the start, young man, 
Be true to yourself and God; 
Ere you build your house mark well the spot, 
Test all the ground, and build you not 
On the sand or shaking sod." 



22 How to Achieve Success, 

The very first step a young man takes 
for himself is the most important of all. 
If he would be right all the time, he must 
start right. The first thing a builder does 
when preparing to erect a good substantial 
building is to lay the foundation, deep, 
broad and on a solid footing. If he fails 
to do this he will repent of his folly when 
it is too late. A few years ago a granite 
block, some eight or nine stories high, was 
built in Boston, and when completed, it 
was considered one of the best blocks in 
the city. Its substantial character made it 
to all appearance as lasting as the granite 
of which it was built. Tenants to occupy it 
were quickly found. The builder had the 
utmost faith in it. They could "pile it full 
of pig lead," he declared. But, alas! be- 
fore it was half stocked with goods, it went 
down, filling the street with stone, bricks, 
broken timbers, and bales of goods; and 
several persons who had not time to es- 
cape were killed. We saw the block when 
completed, and we saw it in ruins. Why 
did it fall? Down in the cellar were a few 
feet of an old wall, and, to save a few dol- 
lars, that old wall was left, and when the 
enormous weight of the structure began to 
beat upon it, it could not stand the pressure, 
and the entire block fell in ruins. A hun- 
dred or two hundred dollars' worth of work 
saved in the foundation cost over a hun- 



How to Achieve Success. 23 

dred thousand dollars' loss in the end, but 
even that was a trifle in comparison with 
the lives sacrificed, which no money could 
restore. 

A few years ago the dam of a large 
reservoir in western Massachusetts broke, 
and instantly the vast body of water it con- 
tained was in motion, and went rusihing 
down the valley. It dashed along with 
fearful velocity, faster than the fleetest 
horse could run, carrying everything be- 
fore it. Village after village was swept with 
the besom of destruction. Shops, stores, 
dwelling-houses went down before that 
mighty flood. So suddenly it came that 
the people along its course had no time to 
save any of their property, while many 
were swallowed up before they could reach 
a place of safety. Property worth millions 
was destroyed, and a half score of happy 
and prosperous villages in less than one 
brief hour were in ruins. Men of wealth 
were reduced to poverty. The mantle of 
death hung over many once happy homes 
— the living plunged into the deepest sor- 
row. All this because the builder of the 
dam had neglected the most important 
consideration of all — the foundation. In- 
stead of going down to bed-rock, he built 
on the trunks of fallen trees, and other 
equally unreliable material. 



24 How to Achieve Success. 

THE FALL OF THE PEMBERTON MILL. 

The Pemberton mill, at Lawrence, 
Massachusetts, a few years ago, fell down 
while in full operation and crowded with 
operatives. The ruins immediately took 
fire, and one hundred and twenty-five lives 
were sacrificed. It was simply the result 
of the gross carelessness of the superin- 
tendent, or master-builder. Iron columns 
that were defective in casting, were allowed 
to be put in. They were thin as paper on 
one side and as thick as a plank on the 
other, when they should have been "true to 
a hair-line" all around. When the pressure 
came upon them they were crippled. All 
this came of trying to save a little money 
by getting work done cheaply. No man 
can afford to cheat himself in the founda- 
tion. So it is in character-building. Every 
one must look well to the foundation. If 
that is defective, it will tell on him, and 
may ultimately bring him down. 

THE DAVENPORT BRIDGE. 

When the great iron bridge that spans 
the Father of Waters, at Davenport, was 
built, in putting down the piers the utmost 
care was exercised to get them on a solid 
foundation. The workers went down until 
they struck the rock, and then cut down 
into the solid rock for the first layer, and 
bolted it down. The layers were cemented 



How to Achieve Success. 25 

and doweled together, making a piece of 
masonry as firm and solid as though it 
were hewn out of a quarry, in one solid 
block. It will stand for centuries. Young 
man, lay your foundation deep. Go down 
to the bed-rock! 

CHARACTER-BUILDING. 

A good reputation, based upon a good 
character, is a fortune to any young man. 
No one can eventually fill the positions < i 
the community that he ought to fill, and 
which he hopes to fill, unless his character 
be spotless. Two men in two different 
counties in Illinois were elected to the of- 
fice of treasurer of their respective coun- 
ties. Neither could enter upon the duties 
of the office, because he could not give the 
bonds required. The character of each 
for integrity and honesty was not trusted 
by their friends. Consequently they failed 
to get the offices, and the shadow will hang 
over them till the day of their death. 

Hundreds of young men fail to get good 
positions in banks and public offices be- 
cause they cannot give bonds. A cloud 
rests on their reputation. Better to sacri- 
fice your right arm, than to have a cloud of 
suspicion on your character. Remember 
that you are building up character every 
day, every hour. The public are scrutiniz- 
ing it all the time, watching to see how you 



26 How to Achieve Success. 

are building — how you are laying the foun- 
dation. The public have keen eyes and 
sensitive ears, and some terrible eaves- 
droppers to tell on a fellow. Telephone 
wires run to every man's door. 

Four young men went into an alley late 
one night to quarrel quietly over their ill- 
luck at a gambling house. A night clerk 
in the post-office heard every word they 
said, and recognized every voice. They 
were employed by firms in the city and 
held responsible positions. If their names 
had appeared in the morning papers, there 
would have been some vacancies, and an 
advertisement like this would have ap- 
peared: "Wanted, a clerk; none but those 
having the best of references need apply." 

A gentleman was riding in a street-car, 
and heard two young men talking over a 
Sunday carnival, and learned what this one 
and that one did, and what one of his own 
clerks did. He was thunderstruck. He 
could not believe it. He thought it must 
be some other young man of the same 
name. It set him to thinking. He put a 
detective on his clerk's tracks, who fol- 
lowed the suspected man for two weeks. 
He put a watch on his every-day work, and 
on the cash drawer; also on certain cus- 
tomers who were always particular to 
transact all their business with him. The 
detective reported, and the next day the 



How to Achieve Success. 27 

young man was "off duty." He was not 
feeling well — had not been feeling well of 
late; thought he would have to change 
climate — and he did. 

We tell you, young man, that you cannot 
ride two horses at the same time, especially 
when they are going in opposite directions. 
We often hear young men complaining 
that they cannot get anything to do. Other 
young men succeed, while they fail. They 
forget, or do not realize the fact, when 
sowing their wild oats, that they will some 
day have to reap them. O, the briars, the 
thorns! how they scratch and tear; yes, 
they prick to the very quick. That is not 
all — they leave the scars that will not wash 
out or heal up. However much a mer- 
chant may value smartness or business tal- 
ent in a young man, it all goes for nothing, 
if the young man is not reliable. Integrity 
first, integrity last. That must be your 
corner-stone if you are building up a char- 
acter that will stand against every tempta- 
tion, every snare, every allurement, and 
give you a spotless reputation, and the best 
things of life that money cannot buy. 

He that is violent in the pursuit of pleasure won't 
mind to turn villain for the purchase. — Marcus 
Antonius. 



28 How to Achieve Success. 

ADMIRAL FARRAGUT AT TEN YEARS OF AGE. 

Admiral David G. Farragut tells the 
story how he laid the foundation of his 
splendid career, as follows: 

"Would you like to know how I was 
enabled to serve my country? It was all 
owing to a resolution I formed when I was 
ten years of age. My father was sent down 
to New Orleans with the little navy we 
then had, to look after the treason of Burr. 
I accompanied him as cabin-boy. I had 
some qualities that I thought made a man 
of me. I could swear like an old salt, could 
drink as stiff a glass of grog as if I had 
doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke like 
a locomotive. I was great at cards, and 
fond of gambling in every shape. At the 
close of the dinner, one day, my father 
turned everybody out of the cabin, locked 
the door, and said to me: 

" 'David, what do you mean to be?' 

" 'I mean to follow the sea.' 

"'Follow the sea! Yes, be a poor, mis- 
erable, drunken sailor before the mast, 
kicked and cuffed about the world, and die 
in some fever hospital in a foreign clime/ 

" 'No/ I said, Til tread the quarter-deck, 
and command, as you do/ 

" 'No, David; no boy ever trod the quar- 
ter-deck with such principles as you have, 
and such habits as you exhibit. You'll 



How to Achieve Success. 29 

have to change your whole course of life, if 
you ever become a man.' 

"My father left me and went on deck. I 
was stunned by the rebuke, and Over- 
whelmed with mortification. 'A poor, mis- 
erable, drunken sailor before the mast, 
kicked and cuffed about the world, and to 
die in some fever hospital! That's my fate, 
is it? I'll change my life, and change it at 
once. I will never utter another oath; I 
will never drink another drop of intoxicat- 
ing liquor; I will never gamble.' And, as 
God is my witness, I have kept those three 
vows to this hour." 

Congress ordered a twenty-thousand- 
dollar monument to the boy who was a 
hero at ten, and greater at that age than 
ever after; greater than Alexander the 
Great, who, when he had conquered all 
known worlds, wept because there -were no 
others to conquer — who conquered every- 
thing but himself, and died at thirty-three. 
Farragut fought the greatest battle of his 
life alone, single-handed, leaving every foe 
dead on the field. An example that chal- 
lenges the world to produce a greater hero. 

Up on the side of some mountain, or in 
a lonely glen, isolated from civilized so- 
ciety, other heroes have commenced their 
battles of life unknown to the outside world, 
with nature as their only teacher. David, 
the psalmist, caught his inspiration while 



30 How to Achieve Success. 

tending his father's sheep ; one of the great- 
est astronomers wrought his grandest 
problems upon the mould-board of the 
plow, while the oxen were resting. What 
man has done once can be done again. 
Young man, this is a lesson for you to read 
and learn by heart. 



How to Achieve Success. 31 



FORTUNE. 

Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud; 
Turn thy wild wheel through sunshine, storm, and 
cloud; 
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. 

Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown;. 
With that wild wheel we go not up or down; 
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. 

Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands; 
Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands; 
For man is man, and master of his fate. 

Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd; 
Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud; 
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. 
— Tennyson. 

Bvery man is the son of his own deeds. — Spanish 
Proverb. 

A good or bad fortune rests with each 
individual. It has been well said that "the 
boy is index to the man;" that "every man 
is the architect of his own fortune." These 
trite sayings need no proof. The history 
of men of all classes in all ages of the world 
down to the present, bears indisputable evi- 
dence of this truth. The boy grows into 
manhood, and the same characteristics that 
were prominent when he was a boy will 
show themselves in the man. It becomes 
every young man to heed these injunc- 
tions, and shape his course early in life, to- 



32 How to Achieve Success. 

mark out the man he wants to be, and then 
follow the pattern closely, remembering 
that if he goes contrary to his plans for 
years, he cannot then jump into a character 
precisely the reverse. 

We often hear young men say that if 
their circumstances were different they 
might succeed, but, as it is, there is no use 
trying. Everything is against them. What 
did Napoleon say about circumstances? 
He asked one of his marshals about a 
movement he had in contemplation, and 
the answer was, if circumstances were fa- 
vorable, it might be accomplished. Napo- 
leon replied, "Circumstances! I care noth- 
ing about circumstances; I make circum- 
stances." "Only give me a standing-place, 
and I will lift the world," says one. The 
man of business, of energy, makes his own 
standing-place. Captain Stevens was a man 
of this sort. He never wanted to take hold 
of a great undertaking until everybody else 
had failed and pronounced it an utter im- 
possibility. Then he was ready to under- 
take the job. The engineers who first un- 
dertook to build a dam across the Merri- 
mac river at Lawrence, Mass., were swept 
away with their dam, before it was com- 
pleted, and narrowly escaped drowning. 
Captain Stevens enthusiastically undertook 
the work. He put in the dam and it will 
stand for centuries. 



How to Achieve Success. 33 

WHAT TO DO. 

No question more difficult to answer was 
ever asked by a young man, than: "What 
shall I do?" Probably there is not a young 
man in the United States who has not 
asked himself and his friends the question 
hundreds of times. It is a very perplexing 
problem to solve. The great majority of 
young men of to-day are like a man lost in 
a dense forest, who in his wanderings 
comes to where several paths meet, cross- 
ing each other, diverging to all points of 
the compass, and no guide-board to point 
out the right path homeward. When they 
come seriously to think what their life- 
work will be, they are standing at a point 
where numerous avenues converge on a 
common centre. They look down one and 
up another, and are lost; and why? Sim- 
ply because they do not know the greatest 
of all secrets — one which every young man 
ought to learn very early in life, and the 
ignorance of which has ruined thousands. 
It is the old maxim, "Know thyself." 

Of all the numerous acquaintances a 
young man may have on his list, none pos- 
sesses value in comparison to the individ- 
ual's acquaintance with himself. Serious 
mistakes, trouble, and despair over mis- 
erable failures, come to many because of 
their being simply ignorant of themselves. 



34 How to Achieve Success. 

To every young man we would say that 
success or failure in a great measure hinges 
on the knowledge you have of yourself. 
You may be a superb scholar, a capital 
teacher, and yet make a miserable failure in 
merchandising. It is better to be a first- 
class blacksmith, pounding red-hot iron 
with a sledge-hammer — playing the anvil 
chorus — than a dull preacher, vainly try- 
ing to pound theology out of a church pul- 
pit when the theology is neither there nor 
in the head. It is better to be a wood- 
sawyer's clerk than a briefless lawyer. If 
you have no conception of colors, of light 
and shade, portrait-painting is not your 
business. If you have no taste for music, 
and cannot distinguish a concord from a 
discord, let that pass. If you dislike mathe- 
matics, surveying would not be a pleasant 
pastime. To be a successful grocer, you 
must be a good taster, and know the nature 
and value of the goods, or you will be "sold" 
every day in the year. 

The most difficult thing in life is to know your- 
self. — Thales. 



How to Achieve Success. 35 



GOOD READING. 

Books, like friends, should be few, and well 
chosen. —Joineriance. 

No young man should spend much of 
his time in reading fiction, for it is a waste, 
and he has no time to lose. Every hour he 
devotes to reading trashy novels is worse 
than wasted. It fills the mind with that 
which is not true, giving a false coloring 
to real life. It weakens the mental pow- 
ers instead of developing them. Reading 
that which requires no thought to compre- 
hend, is harmful to the mind. If you were 
training for an athlete, you would not use 
feather pillows for Indian clubs, nor india- 
rubber foot-balls for cannon-balls. Toy 
playthings are not the implements used to 
develop muscle. When one thing is 
learned, something more difficult must be 
attempted. It is the constant exercise of 
the muscles that develops the power. No 
one knows, until he tries, what power he 
can develop by daily practice. 

What is accomplished by physical train- 
ing can, by the same laws, be accomplished 
by mental discipline. It is development 
that a young man needs most. Not one 
person in ten has fully developed his capa- 
bilities, his native talent. Any man has it 
within his own power to ruin his system 



2,6 How to Achieve Success. 

and render himself helpless as a stone. Tie 
up your arm for six months, and you will 
realize what inaction can accomplish. Let 
your mind have nothing to feed upon, year 
in and out, and you will become an imbe- 
cile. Read flashy novels, exciting fiction, 
night and day, and you will become as 
simple and foolish as the characters these 
books portray. Is the flavor, the fragrance 
of a good dinner, better than the dinner 
itself? Is brass jewelry better than gold? 
Are mock diamonds better than the real 
gems? Is counterfeit money better than 
the genuine? If so, take the counterfeit — 
read fiction. Fiction is all counterfeit, 
therefore why read it at all, when "truth is 
stranger than fiction?" If froth and foam 
will develop muscle, and make a Hercules 
of a weak body, then take froth and foam 
for a diet. How long do you think a black- 
smith's arm would swing the sledge-ham- 
mer if he were fed on gas? He would prob- 
ably get as fat as did Job's wild asses when 
they snuffed up the east wind. We have 
known persons to sit down and read fiction 
all day, and weep over the story of some 
poor unfortunate creature — a victim of 
cruel and heartless treatment in a cold and 
unsympathizing world ; yet, when a real liv- 
ing, breathing unfortunate knocks in person 
at the kitchen door, with a sick child in her 
arms, wet and cold, asking for bread, while 



How to Achieve Success. 37 

the tears fall upon the pages of fiction, the 
novel-reader can tell Bridget to say to the 
poor woman that she has "nothing for her 
to-day," and warn the servant not to let 
her come in. This is true in fact. It is no 
fiction. All sympathy for real suffering is 
killed and buried, by novel reading. This 
is the natural result. ' 

The library of Cornell College contains 
40,000 volumes, and it is said there is not a 
single book of fiction in the number. Why 
are they excluded? For the wisest and 
best of all reasons, that they are harmful to 
the student. 

GOOD BOOKS TO READ. 

God be thanked for books. They are the voices 
of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of 
the spiritual life of past ages. — Charming. 

Would you be delighted to hear the roar 
of cannon, the clash of armies, the shouts 
of victory, the groans of the dying; to wade 
through rivers of human blood; to scale 
the Alps; to follow a defeated army in its 
retreat from Moscow, in the deep snows of 
a terrible winter, harassed by an army 
foaming with rage, maddened over the 
burning of their city; to see the corpses of 
fifteen thousand soldiers who formed part 
of an army of forty thousand men, lining 
the way, the snow their only winding-sheet, 



38 How to Achieve Success. 

and their grave! If you have a taste for 
scenes of this class, read Abbott's "Napo- 
leon." So vividly will all the scenes come 
before you, that your blood will almost 
curdle in your veins. 

Do you wish to see Old Mexico, and 
revel in the halls of the Montezumas? 
Prescott will conduct you safely there and 
back. You may prefer a cooler climate, or 
a trip to the north pole; Dr. Kane will wel- 
come you to a journey with him, and take 
you where eternal silence reigns supreme; 
where night hangs her sable curtain for 
two long months in the year, and it is twi- 
light for nearly four months additional; to 
where you may feast on polar bear steak 
and drink train oil by the gallon. 

Perhaps you would prefer an aerial voy- 
age, and to soar away from earthly de- 
lights? Prof. Mitchell awaits your coming. 
The chariot is ready for a trip to the re- 
motest star. He will gladly guide you to 
other worlds and systems, through the 
unexplored regions of infinite space, on a 
voyage of thought requiring centuries to 
make the tour in the body. If you are 
timid and have not the time to spare for so 
grand a journey, an underground trip may 
suit you better; Prof. Winchell will conduct 
you down to and through earth's mys- 
terious chambers, and read to you of the 
ages past, when life was unknown, and of the 



How to Achieve Success. 39 

first centuries, before man appeared on the 
earth; or, Hugh Miller will be delighted to 
sit down with you, with his little hammer 
in hand, to crack the rocks and show you 
their testimony; and he will also tell you 
what he knows of the "old red sandstone." 

Africa may have a charm in its mineral 
wealth, and its diamond fields. Or you 
may prefer to join an exploring expedi- 
tion to determine the source of the Nile. If 
so, Mungo Park, Cameron, Baker, Living- 
stone, and Stanley are ready to give you 
their experience in that dark land, over 
which the shadow of ignorance and super- 
stition hangs like a pall. 

The Holy Land has been carefully 
studied, explored, and surveyed by the best 
classical scholars of the age. Jerusalem 
and its environs have been described most 
graphically. Robinson, Smith, Thompson, 
Talmage, and others, will tell you of 
their experience and travels. A run 
down to Egypt and a look at the 
pyramids may not be uninteresting, 
the science of astronomy having been 
well understood at the time of their 
building, six thousand years before the 
Christian era. Layard will tell you of the 
wonders he has exhumed from Nineveh 
and Babylon, two of the most remarkable 
cities of the old world, with walls one hun- 
dred feet high and eighty feet thick; with 



4<d How to Achieve Success. 

fifteen hundred towers, two hundred feet 
high, at intervals along the wall. 

When you have become interested in, 
and familiar with, the works published in 
relation to the world and its inhabitants, 
we think you will not have any desire to 
feed on novels of the "dime" order. 



How to Achieve Success. 41 



HEALTH. 

Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it. — Shak- 
speare. 

O blessed health! thou art above all gold and 
treasure; 'tis thou who enlargest the soul, and 
openest all power to receive instruction and to relish 
virtue. He that has thee, has little more to wish 
for; but he that is so wretched as to want thee, 
wants everything with thee. — Sterne. 

No other blessing- in this life is of so 
great value as good health. A young man 
possessed of a robust frame, a strong con- 
stitution, free from any hereditary disease, 
has a fortune that he cannot afford to be 
careless or indifferent about. It is a prize 
that cannot be estimated by any human 
arithmetic, or valued by gold piled high 
enough on the scales to make an equiv- 
alent. It is a priceless treasure. No 
wealth, no rank, no position can equal it in 
value. All the united and combined treas- 
ures of the world cannot compare with the 
value of good health. 

It is of the utmost importance that every- 
one should rightfully estimate its worth, 
that he may exercise the most diligent 
watchfulness, that it may not slip from him 
or be prematurely injured or lost. Every 
fountain of pleasure, every enjoyment in 
life, is marred when there is pain. 



42 How to Achieve Success. 

To be free from pain for a single day, 
some would give thousands of dollars. 
Millions of money are spent annually by 
invalids hunting for the fountain of eternal 
youth; sparing no expense or time travel- 
ing up and down the earth, hoping to find 
a climate that will bring back health. No 
one can be successful in active business life 
if he has a broken-down constitution, that 
is continually demanding his care and at- 
tention. It interrupts all plans of business 
or pleasure, causing great disappointment 
when he is least prepared to meet it. Only 
those who have once enjoyed perfect health 
and lost it, know its value. 

GOOD LIVING. 

Good living consists in eating three 
times a day, good, wholesome food, well 
cooked. Remember, we eat not for the 
simple pleasure of eating, but to nourish 
the system, to repair the injury, loss, and 
waste that are going on continually. The 
blood, the brains, the bones, the muscles 
call for fresh supplies to keep them satis- 
fied, healthy, hearty, and strong. Each 
one requires a special diet, and will not ac- 
cept of any substitute. If it is not sup- 
plied, the organ suffers, and other parts are 
compelled to submit to loss. Oatmeal is 
classed as one of the best articles of food 
for health, and superior for developing 



How to Achieve Success. 43 

brain-power. It has been, and is to-day, 
the standard article of food with the Scotch, 
and where is the nation that has produced 
greater men, intellectually, than Scotland? 
The Scotchman is in evidence the wide 
world over, everywhere among the leaders 
in the learned professions. That which pro- 
duces good blood and a healthy constitu- 
tion is what every one should eat. If prop- 
erly cooked, slowly eaten, and thoroughly 
masticated and mixed with the saliva, one 
never need have the dyspepsia or any other 
ills. 

But, if you are too lazy to take care of 
yourself, and will indulge your appetite, 
you can be assured that you will have, 
gratis, all the ills flesh is heir to. 

CLEANLINESS. 

Let the mind's sweetness have its operation upon 
the body, clothes, and habitation. — George Her- 
bert. 

Even from the body's purity the mind receives a 
secret sympathetic aid. — Thomson. 

Nothing conduces so much to good 
health as cleanliness. Nothing but a free 
use of soap and water will keep one's per- 
son in a healthy condition. Every person 
should bathe as often as once a week, and 
in warm weather several times a week. It 
is absolutely necessary that the pores be 
kept open, thereby increasing the vigor of 



44 How to Achieve Success. 

the system and fortifying it against dis- 
ease. We always like to take a good bath, 
in the coldest of weather, if we are to ride 
all day in a carriage. 

A warm bath, followed by a dash of cold 
water, with thorough rubbing with crash 
towels, until a warm glow is felt all over, 
followed by light gymnastic exercise, re- 
stores the system to its normal state, and 
the rigor of a long, cold ride is greatly re- 
lieved, without danger of taking cold. 
Some fifty ladies and gentlemen took baths 
at the Hot Springs, Ark., in water from 
90 to ioo° Fahrenheit, on a very cold day, 
when the ground was frozen. After it, we 
all went on our journey, and not one suf- 
fered in the least from the bath. A lazy 
person is almost sure to take cold, simply 
because he is too lazy to rub himself and 
bring the blood to the surface. 

GETTING UP IN THE MORNING. 

Young men must arise early in the 
morning if they "mean business." To get 
up early one must retire early. If you are 
awake until one or two o'clock in the 
morning, you cannot expect to rise early. 
You will be late to breakfast, late to busi- 
ness, and too late to succeed. You will 
miss the best chances and the best bar- 
gains. Take exercise out of doors — plenty 
of it. If your business is in-doors, you 



How to Achieve Stucess. 45 

must take exercise, and you cannot take 
too much. Your system demands and 
must have it, or suffer the consequences. 
Every one ought to be out of bed an hour,, 
at least, before breakfast, and half of that 
time out of doors. A walk, a run, a jump; 
go through some gymnastic exercise; 
swing the arms backward and forward 
over the head; strike out, strike back, any 
way, every way, to wake the dormant mus-. 
cles and send the blood tingling through 
the extremities into a healthful circulation.. 
Last, but not least, you must have lung- 
power. One-half of the lung-power of the 
people is not brought into action. "Too 
lazy to breathe" is a saying which is too 
true. Tying up the lungs is like tying up 
your knees in splints, and undertaking to 
walk or work. Many are hampering their 
lungs and destroying them by tight lacing.. 

HOW TO DEVELOP LUNG-POWER. 

Place a pipe-stem in the mouth and hold 
it fast. Inhale through the nostrils until 
your lungs are filled to the utmost capacity,, 
then "blow off" through the pipe-stem. 
Repeat it several times before breakfast, in 
pure air — not the poisoned atmosphere of 
sleeping-rooms, or fetid air, cooked in the 
sitting-room, full of fine «dust. 

The great secret of building up a strong 
and healthy system is the proper develop- 



46 How to Achieve Success. 

ment of the lungs. Deep breathing, way 
down — to your boots. Look at the black- 
smith's bellows, watch the long sweep of 
the lever, every inch of space in the bel- 
lows filled to its utmost expansion. If you 
were to study elocution, we think the first 
lesson would be how to breathe. Half of 
the people do not know how to breathe. 
Great singers and elocutionists understand 
it. If they did not, they would break down 
in a month. The muscles of the chest must 
be brought into play and disciplined. 
Proper use of the vocal organs is essential 
to health. Good singers and teachers of 
elocution increase their corporeal system 
greatly and become portly. Persons have 
increased the girth around the chest five 
inches in six months' practice, by simply in- 
haling fresh air as we have already sug- 
gested, and "blowing off" through a pipe- 
stem. 

Your body is the machine, and your 
lungs are the most prominent and all-im- 
portant mechanism of the system. When 
they fail to do their duty well, the entire 
machine fails to do good work. 

Systematic physical exercise is a duty 
we owe not merely to our bodies, but to 
our whole nature. It will vitalize the 
blood, quicken the energies, give firmness 
to the nerves, and lay a foundation upon 



How to Achieve Success, 47 

which we may build a wholesome and suc- 
cessful life. 

I think you might dispense with half your doc- 
tors, if you would only consult Doctor Sun more, 
and be more under treatment of these great hydro- 
pathic doctors — the clouds. — Beecher. 



48 How to Achieve Success. 



HABITS. 

The chains of habit are generally too small to be 
felt till they are too strong to be broken.— Johnson. 

Habit, with its iron sinews, clasps and leads us 
day by day. — Lamar tine. 

The repeating of certain movements, or 
the doing of certain acts over and over 
again, an indefinite number of times, forms 
a habit. If we change night into day, we 
cannot sleep at night. If we accustom our- 
selves to eating at certain intervals, we 
shall feel the cravings of appetite at such 
intervals. The man who takes his glass of 
"bitters'' regularly, becomes miserable 
when debarred from his accustomed pota- 
tion. He has formed a habit that will be a 
prompter every time the clock strikes the 
hour. At first it has no force and no con- 
trol over him, but, often repeated, it ac- 
cumulates power. One link is easily forged 
in the chain of habit, and by and by the 
chain has many links, and it coils around 
the victim noiselessly, and, before he is 
aware of it, his feet are fast in the fetters. 
To break away from it is almost an impos- 
sibility. The habit of drink especially takes 
hold of its victim with a death-like grip. 
Like a boa-constrictor, it gradually coils 
itself around its victim, growing tighter at 
every round, and holding him in a vice-like 
grasp. 



How to Achieve Success. 49 

A HORRIBLE DEATH. 

A few months ago, in a foreign city, an 
exhibition was given by a snake-charmer. 
One part of the performance was to allow 
the snake to coil around the charmer's 
body. The snake coiled around as usual, 
and then began to tighten the coils. The 
man screamed in agony; the spectators 
clapped their hands and cheered, thinking 
it was but a part of the sport; but, when 
the poor man's tongue was forced out of 
his mouth, and his eyeballs from their 
sockets, and the dull cracking of his bones 
was heard as they were being broken and 
crushed, then did they realize that it was 
the death-grip of the snake. Once too 
often had the charmer fooled with the huge 
reptile. Too late he realized the power of 
his pet and its. terrible heartlessness — its 
relentless fury — when roused to activity. 



The style and neatness of one's attire 
have much to do with one's success in any 
respectable calling. A young man who is 
careless of his personal appearance — wear- 
ing ill-fitting garments, boots slouchy and 
run down at the heels, and a hat as ill- 
becoming, stands a very poor chance of 
securing a first-class situation. It is the 
dress that, in a degree, is an index of the 
4 



50 How to Achieve Success. 

man — i. e., makes the first impression on a 
stranger. It is neither the quality, nor the 
costliness of the suit, but the neatness and 
care, that are noted in the personal attire 
at the very approach. No merchant will 
hire a clerk who is so devoid of taste and 
self-respect as to neglect his personal ap- 
pearance. It is a fact, that the world at 
large judges of a person largely by his dress, 
rather than by his accomplishments. If a 
man has made his fortune and retired from 
business, and prefers to dress like a boor, 
to the disgust of his friends and in viola- 
tion of the rules of etiquette, of course he 
has a legal right to do so; but no gentle- 
man will ignore the good-will of the com- 
munity in which he resides by wearing out- 
landish or slovenly apparel. 

No young man can afford to neglect his 
wardrobe. If he prefer to go carelessly at- 
tired, swaggering along, he had better go 
to some coal-mine under-ground, and stay 
there forever, for he never can secure a 
first-class situation above. 

Every one should dress in a style suit- 
able to his business, and should be proud 
to wear the insignia of his trade or profes- 
sion. A brick-layer or a hod-carrier will 
not look well in a minister's garb, neither 
will a minister look well in a hod-carrier's 
suit. There is an appropriateness in dress- 
ing to suit the place you occupy. A dandy 



How to Achieve Success. 51 

in broadcloth, kid gloves, and stove-pipe 
hat wouldn't stand much of a chance to en- 
gage himself to a farmer; neither would a 
farmer's boy, dressed in his field suit, be 
eligible to a situation in a fashionable dry- 
goods store. Although dress plays an im- 
portant part in aiding a young man to se- 
cure a situation, yet it requires superior 
qualifications to be able to hold one after it 
is obtained. It is economy for every young 
man to dress well; it is a recommendation 
to good society; it is a stepping-stone to a 
higher position, which means, financially, a 
better salary. It pays to dress well. 



52 How to Achieve Success. 

HOW TO DESERVE SUCCESS. 

POLITENESS. 

True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It 
simply consists in treating others just as you love 
to be treated yourself. — Chesterfield. 

"True politeness is the poor man's capital." 

No accomplishment will atone for the 
want of genuine politeness. Affable and 
courteous manners always win. Many a 
young man has won his way to success by 
uniform politeness to everybody. Snob- 
bishness doesn't pay, and never will. This 
dropping on one's knees to aristocracy, 
and falling back on one's dignity to ordi- 
nary people, is an exhibition of the absolute 
want of genuine politeness. The latter is 
a virtue that young men should cultivate 
constantly, for they never know whose 
friends they may insult, if they disregard 
this injunction. 

TWO WAYS OF DOING THE SAME THING. 

A young man entered a bank as teller, 
on a small salary. His gentlemanly man- 
ners and true politeness made him very 
popular. His salary was increased from 
year to year. A rival bank desired his ser- 
vices, at a higher salary, and he changed 
counters at the end of his term. A third 
bank afterward coveted his services and 
willing to give a still higher salary, made 



How to Achieve Success. 53 

him an offer of "three thousand dollars a 
year." True merit is always at a premium. 
Worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow. 
— Pope. 

Another young man stood behind the 
same counter where the first young man 
began his career. He put on many airs. It 
was mortifying to his aristocratic notions 
to be obliged to wait on ordinary custom- 
ers. A civil answer was not always given. 
Nearly every one was treated with haughty 
and heartless indifference. When a check 
was presented for payment, the currency 
would be thrown out over the counter, as 
though it was infected with the small-pox; 
and, with an air that spoke louder than 
words, to the recipient, "Take it and clear 
out." After a time the bank directors have 
numerous complaints made to them; de- 
positors withdraw their balances and place 
them elsewhere. The bank is losing money 
by a teller who acts the boor, and finally a 
polite intimation is given the young man 
to hand in his resignation, and that it will 
be accepted without notice. The morning 
papers announce his resignation, and that 
he intends to go into business for himself, 
"out west." No matter how honest or cap- 
able a young man may be, or how rapidly 
he could do the business of a bank-teller — 
for all these requisites are absolutely neces- 
sary to the efficient discharge of his duty — 



54 How to Achieve Success. 

yet, he may lack the most essential qualifi- 
cation to make his services of any value to 
any banking institution — the lack of gen- 
uine politeness. 

Success can never be won where a young 
man is above his business, and treats with 
contempt those with whom he must have 
daily business transactions. Moneyed men 
are not beggars or town paupers, and will 
not do business with an uncivil bank offi- 
cial, be he teller or president. 

DID IT PAY? 

A Dr. Wallace, formerly a Confederate 
soldier, at his death, bequeathed to a 
daughter of Mr. Thomas H. Allen, of 
Lynchburg, Virginia, ten thousand dollars, 
for kindness and hospitality extended to 
him when ill, by her father and mother. 

Some thirty years ago, Mr. Green, an 
amiable Englishman, seeing a rather 
shabby old man looking for a seat in 
church, opened his pew door, beckoned to 
him, and placed him in a comfortable cor- 
ner, with prayer and hymn books. The 
old gentleman, who carefully noted the 
name in these latter, expressed his thanks 
warmly at the close of the services. Time 
had effaced the incident from Mr. Green's 
recollection, when he one day received an 
intimation that, by the death of a gentle- 
man named Wilkinson, he had become en- 



How to Achieve Success. 55 

titled to thirty-five thousand dollars a year. 
Mr. Wilkinson was a solitary old man, 
without relatives. Green's act prepossessed 
him in his favor; inquiring about him, he 
found that he bore the highest character. 

PROFITABLE POLITENESS. 

The Boston Traveler, in commenting on 
the prevalence of rudeness, tells the follow- 
ing incident that happened some years ago : 

"There was a plainly-dressed, elderly 
lady, who was a frequent customer at the 
then leading dry-goods house in Boston. 
No one in the store knew her, even by 
name. All the clerks but one avoided her, 
and gave their attention to those who were 
better dressed and more pretentious. The 
exception was a }^oung man, who had a 
conscientious regard for duty and system. 
He never left another customer to wait on 
the lady, but, when at liberty, he waited on 
her with as much attention as if she had 
been a princess. 

"This continued a year or two, till the 
young man became of age. One morning 
the lady approached the young man, when 
the following conversation took place: 

" 'Young man, do you wish to go into 
business for yourself?' she inquired. 

"'Yes, ma'am,' he replied; 'but I have 
neither money, credit, nor friends/ 

" 'Well/ continued the lady, 'you go and 



56 How to Achieve Success. 

select a good location, ask what the rent is, 
and report to me' — handing the young 
man her card. 

"He found a location and a good store, 
but the landlord required security, which 
he could not give. Mindful of the lady's 
request, he forthwith went to her and re- 
ported. 

" 'Well,' she replied, 'you go and tell Mr. 
that I will be responsible.' 

"He went, and the landlord, or agent, 
was much surprised, but the bargain was 
closed. 

"The next day the lady again called, to 
ascertain the result. The young man told 
her, but added: 

" 'What am I to do for goods? No one 
will trust me.' 

" 'You may go and see Mr. , and 

Mr. , and Mr. , and tell them 

to call on me.' 

"He did so, and his store was soon 
stocked with the best goods in the market. 
He died many years ago, and left a fortune 
of three million dollars. So much for po- 
liteness; so much for treating one's elders 
with the deference due to age, in whatever 
garb they are clothed." 

PLEASE YOUR EMPLOYERS. 
' ' He who is false to present duty breaks a thread 
in the loom, and will find the flaw when he may- 
have forgotten the cause." 



How to Achieve Success. 57 

The reason so many fail is because they 
are not willing to give their employers all 
their time. They will cut off at both ends 
and out of the middle. Always tardy; al- 
ways in haste to quit ten or fifteen minutes 
before time. A young man who cheats his 
employer out of his rights, cheats himself 
in the end. If there is an easy job to be 
done, he will never get it. If a man is to 
be sent out five hundred or a thousand 
miles to set up a machine, or on a collect- 
ing tour, he will not be the man to go. If a 
foreman is wanted, he will not be the man 
recommended for a better position, and it 
serves him right. He is not worthy of any 
place when he cheats his employer every 
day in the year, and every time he draws 
his wages takes more than he has earned. 
Nothing but selfish interest controls him. 

It is the duty, and it is the duty of every 
man, to devote his entire energies to the 
interests of his employer. This whining 
and growling all the time is mean — con- 
temptible. It exhibits a low, selfish, ill- 
bred disposition. There are people who 
claim that the world owes them a living — 
and, pray, for what? Balance your ac- 
counts; show your figures. A young man 
of the selfish, complaining stamp would see 
his employer's property go to destruction 
— burn up — before he would go ten steps 
out of the way to save it. A man of this 



58 How to Achieve Success. 

disposition cannot but feel mean all the 
time. Work goes hard with him. A man 
who doesn't like the business of his em- 
ployer is an unprofitable man to have at 
any price. To enjoy anything you must 
fall in love with it, else it will be irksome, 
tedious. It wears upon the system like a 
machine without oil. A happy, jovial dis- 
position makes hard work easy, light, and 
devoid of friction. 

MAKE YOUR EMPLOYER'S BUSINESS YOURS. 

To win a reputation that is worth more 
than money, every young man should 
make himself thoroughly acquainted with 
his employer's business. He should know 
it in all its details, and take as much inter- 
est in it as though it were his own; he 
should devote his whole time and talents 
to help make the business pay. You may 
have a hard place. Your employer may 
not fully appreciate the value of your ser- 
vices, but you are not a slave. There are 
other places to fill. Others will see your 
devotion to your employer, and will seek to 
secure your services at a greatly advanced 
salary. Unrewarded talent will not long 
remain uncompensated. It cannot be con- 
cealed. You might as well hold vour hat 
before your eyes and think you could shut 
out the noon-day sun. Every hour of faith- 
ful devotion to your employer's business is 



How to Achieve Success. 59 

making capital for you, and is better than 
money deposited in banks. 

A young man never knows who may be 
watching him. Business men have keen 
sight. They recognize talent wherever it is 
seen. Changes are constantly going on. A 
salesman retires; another must fill the va- 
cancy. Who shall it be? A hundred — five 
hundred — apply, and only one is wanted. 
The proprietors have been watching a 
young man in some other establishment for 
six months. They have had his name in a 
memorandum book for that length of time, 
and, as occasion gave them opportunity, 
they have watched his business tact and 
the hold he has on customers. They em- 
ploy others to "sound him." His habits 
are looked into, to know where and how 
he spends his evenings; where he is on 
Sundays, and how about his vacations — 
are they frequent? and last, but not least, 
who are his associates? These are all 
looked up. The records are compared and 
they show — First, he is prompt, always on 
hand. Second, his employer's business is 
made his own. Third, customers will not 
buy of any one else, if they can help it. 
Fourth, his habits are irreproachable; 
doesn't smoke, chew, or drink; never was 
seen at a theatre; doesn't play cards or bil- 
liards; is active in the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association; record, A No. 1, extra. It 



60 How to Achieve Success. 

is decided to secure his services if he can 
be honorably released from his present sit- 
uation. Salary is a secondary considera- 
tion. The book-keeper is instructed to 
drop him a note, asking - him to call at the 
counting-room. It reads as follows: 

"A. B. &Co., 

11 Importers of Silks, English, French and German 

Cloths, Broadway. 

"New York, December ist, 1896. 
1 ' Mr. Henry Granderson — Dear Sir: — If 
convenient, we should be pleased to have you call 
after business hours at our counting-room — say 
eight p. m. Strictly confidential. Yours, 

"A. B. &Co." 

Promptly at the hour named, Mr. 
Granderson is at the counting-room of A. 
B. & Co. He is told that their head salesman 
will leave on the first of January, 1897, and 
they need a man to fill his place. That, 
although they have hundreds of applicants, 
they are satisfied he is the man they want, 
and, if he is situated so that he can make 
the change without compromising himself, 
they are ready to engage him. As far as 
salary is concerned, they will make it satis- 
factory to him. Mr. G. replies that his 
term will be up in a few days, and he has 
not said anything to his firm nor they to 
him on the subject; he will confer with 
them at once, and see A. B. & Co. again. 
Three days later Mr. G. is at A. B. & Co.'s 



How to Achieve Success. 61 

office and informs them that his firm has 
proposed to double his salary, which has 
been rive thousand dollars for the last year, 
rather than to have him leave. A. B. & Co. 
say, "Please call to-morrow morning at ten 
o'clock." Promptly at the moment Mr. G. 
is on hand. He is asked to step into the 
private office. A. B. & Co. say that they have 
concluded to make him a proposition to 
become one of the firm. He may consider 
his interest to be ten thousand dollars paid- 
up capital, and if he wishes to add to that 
sum he can do so. Mr. G.'s name is added 
to the firm. This may look a little over- 
drawn, but the incident is all literally true; 
nothing but the names are fictitious. 

Were it necessary, and had we space, we 
could multiply similar cases. There are 
hundreds of men who are receiving a bet- 
ter salary than the President of the United 
States receives. There are a great many 
men who receive a thousand dollars a 
month; yes, and there are millions who do 
not receive over fifteen dollars a month 
and board. What causes the difference? 

PUT ON THE APPEARANCE OF BUSINESS. 

There is nothing like being always busy, 
doing something. Sitting down and wait- 
ing for customers is no way to build up a 
trade. People prefer to go into a store 
where the proprietor is so full of activity 



62 How to Achieve Success. 

that it seems almost impossible for him to 
stop to wait on customers. It gives an im- 
pression of a live man and plenty to do. 
No one cares to go the second time where 
ail is as still as a graveyard, and the pro- 
prietor looking as if his last day had come, 
and moving about with a face as long as a 
yard-stick, with a voice as doleful as 
though he had been singing, "Hark, from 
the Tombs," for a month. Such conduct 
would make a customer stop as short a 
time as possible, and never go there again. 

We knew a young physician who opened 
an office in a country village, and every 
day he would drive out ten or fifteen miles 
into the country at a rapid rate, and when 
he came back to the village his horse would 
be white with foam. Some days he would 
drive two horses — one in the forenoon, and 
a fresh one in the afternoon. Everybody 
said, "What a big practice our new doctor 
has!" There was not a farmer within a 
radius of twenty miles who didn't know the 
new doctor. The result was that he did get 
a large practice, but for the first three 
months he didn't have a patient. It was per- 
fectly right for him to learn all about the 
country and the people, so as to be pre- 
pared to answer calls. He put on the ap- 
pearance of business, and he secured what 
he sought for. 

A few years ago a young man, a mason 



How to Achieve Success. 63 

by trade, went to Boston to seek employ- 
ment. For two weeks he did nothing but 
walk the streets, dressed in his best Sun- 
day suit, and failed to find any one who 
wanted his services. He concluded to 
change his procedure, and to put on the 
"appearance of business." So he bought a 
pail and a whitewash brush, and put on his 
working suit — well ornamented with white- 
wash — and started out early the next 
morning to advertise his calling. He went 
into the most fashionable portion of the 
city, the residences of the merchant princes, 
and along the streets at a rapid pace, as 
though he had a big job on his hands and 
was in a great hurry to be at the work. He 
had not proceeded far before a lady on the 
opposite side of the street espied him, and, 
raising her window, called to him to come 
across, as she wanted to speak to him. He 
crossed over and she asked him if he would 
stop and whiten some ceilings for her. 
"Not to-day, but I will come to-morrow," 
he replied. She told him to come, and 
away he went on his advertising tramp for 
the day. Before night he had secured all 
the work he wanted; and from that day 
until he made enough to retire from busi- 
ness, he didn't have to tramp the streets of 
Boston for work. 

Young man, there is nothing like "put- 
ting on the appearance of business" — that 



64 How to Achieve Success. 

is, if you mean business. The public al- 
ways want to employ the busy man. They 
invariably have suspicions of a man who 
has nothing to do. And well they may. 

don't be above your business. 

Some young men fail because they have 
such exalted notions as to what they think 
is proper or becoming. This class, when 
clerks, are too proud to carry a bundle of 
any kind, and must hire an express or por- 
ter to carry a yard of muslin. 

The late Amos Lawrence, one of Bos- 
ton's most successful merchants — a mil- 
lionaire — when a clerk in a dry-goods 
store, sold a parcel of goods, promising to 
have them delivered in Charlestown by 
twelve o'clock m. The porter, who was to 
take them over, failing to return as soon as 
expected, young Lawrence loaded the 
goods on a wheelbarrow and trundled them 
over the long bridge through the streets 
thronged with ladies and gentlemen, and 
had them there on time. Not one clerk in 
a thousand would have been seen follow- 
ing a wheelbarrow, even if their fortunes 
were at stake. 

A snobbish young man, on his way to 
dinner, stopped at a grocery store, pur- 
chased a little tin box of ground mustard — 
less than a pound in weight — and asked to 
have it sent home, although he was going 



How to Achieve Success. 65 

directly there. A large four-horse truck 
(tandem) was loaded with the box of mus- 
tard, with as much show as if it had been a 
hogshead of molasses. The driver drove 
up to the front door of the young man's 
residence, backed his truck up to the side- 
walk, and rolled off the little box of mus- 
tard, rung the door-bell, called the young 
gentleman to the door, delivered the mus- 
tard, and charged thirty-seven and a half 
cents for the job. The display in front of 
his residence did not add to his happiness 
in the least, for his amused neighbors en- 
joyed the show better than a first-class cir- 
cus parade. It did not require any mus- 
tard-poultice to warm up his wounded 
pride that day. It was a good lesson to 
his snobbish, aristocratic notions. Such 
instances are but samples of thousands of 
exhibitions of mock aristocracy occurring 
every day in the year. 

CHOICE OF BOARDING-HOUSES. 

"The whole of our life depends upon the persons 
with whom we live familiarly '." 

We gain nothing by being with such as ourselves. 
We encourage one another in mediocrity. I am 
always longing to be with men more excellent than 
myself — Lamb. 

If men wish to be held in esteem, they must asso- 
ciate with those only who are estimable. — Bruyere. 

Choose the company of your superiors, whenever 
you can have it; that is right and true pride. — Ches- 
terfield. 



66 How to Achieve Success. 

Select the best private family accessible, 
where culture and refinement are prized 
above show, where the choicest books, and 
papers, and music are thought more of 
than theatres, parties, and gossip. Better 
be at the foot of the table than at the head, 
every time. Development comes by con- 
tact with superior minds, not inferior. The 
first elevates, the other degenerates — let- 
ting down one's self to a lower level. Do 
not, to save a dollar a week, take board at 
a second-class house. You can't afford it. 
Economize in everything else, rather than 
associate with people devoid of all ambi- 
tion for improvement. The society of re- 
fined young ladies will improve any young 
man. It will be a good school to those 
who may not have had the advantages of a 
liberal education. 

A young man cannot be too particular 
about the society in which he moves. The 
old saying still holds good, that u a man is 
known by the company he keeps." Many 
a young man has lost golden opportunities, 
unknown to himself, simply by being seen 
in questionable company. "Show me his 
friends, his associates, and I will tell the 
character of a young man whose voice I 
have never heard," is true almost to the 
letter. 

It is in the home in which the young 
man lives that he acquires his habits of 



How to Achieve Success. 67 

home-life, as well as his manner of think- 
ing and conducting himself in his relations 
to others. No doubt it would be better for 
any young man who has the slightest desire 
to make the most of himself and his oppor- 
tunities, to pay, if need be, double price 
for his board in order to be in a family 
where the best of social relations prevail, 
rather than to be deprived of the refining 
and elevating influences that are found in 
every good home. It is impossible to es- 
timate in money the benefit that would re- 
sult from such surroundings. 



68 How to Achieve Success. 

HOW TO INSURE SUCCESS. 

PLUCK. 

The world belongs to the energetic. — Emerson. 

Success makes success, as money makes money. 
— Chamfort. 

The secret of success in life is for a man to be 
ready for his opportunity when it comes. — Disraeli. 

Pluck is omnipotent. You may just as 
well be contented and satisfied to remain 
where you are, as to expect to meet with 
any degree of success in any business in 
which you may engage unless you possess 
an abundance of this essential element. 
This is a fast age. Everything goes with 
lightning rapidity. Time and distance are 
annihilated, and, to win success, one must 
be on time, or he will be ruled out. Some 
people, however, are so far in the rear that 
they would not be missed if they should 
drop out of existence at any time. It is an 
astonishing as well as an indisputable fact, 
that a great majority of the people of our 
own country never make any mark in the 
world. They live and die as the beasts — 
like so many sheep and cattle. The only 
force they exert, distinguishing one from 
another, is animal force, — so many "horse- 
power," gauged by the same scale as a 
steam-engine or a turbine-wheel is gauged 
to find its power. 



How to Achieve Success. 69 

A SERMON IN A PARAGRAPH. 

President Porter, of Yale, once gave the 
following advice to the students of that in- 
stitution : 

"Young men, you are the architects of 
your own fortunes. Rely on your own 
strength of body and soul. Take for your 
star, self-reliance. Inscribe on your ban- 
ner, 'Luck is a fool; Pluck is a hero.' 
Don't take too much advice — keep at your 
helm and steer your own ship, and remem- 
ber that the great art of commanding is to 
take a fair share of the work. Think well 
of yourself. Strike out. Assume your own 
position. Put potatoes in a cart over a 
rough road, and the small ones go to the 
bottom. Rise above the envious and jeal- 
ous. Fire above the mark you intend to 
hit. Energy, invincible determination, 
w T ith a right motive, are the levers that 
move the world. Don't drink. Don't 
chew. Don't smoke. Don't swear. Don't 
deceive. Don't marry until you can sup- 
port a wife. Be in earnest. Be self-reliant. 
Be generous. Be civil. Read the papers. 
Advertise your business. Make money 
and do good with it. Love your God and 
fellow-men. Love truth and virtue. Love 
your country and o'bey its laws." 

WAITING FOR THE ELEVATOR. 

Some young men are devoid of the 
slightest ambition to work for their own 



70 How to Achieve Success. 

advancement. They may have some as- 
pirations, perhaps, to occupy respectable 
positions in the community in which they 
live; wishing for some prominent place, a 
little above their associates, while they do 
not exercise any ambition to work their 
way upward. It reminds us of the steam 
elevators used in all first-class hotels, by 
which the guests are carried to their rooms. 
The guests have nothing to do but step in 
and take a seat in a little, elegantly fur- 
nished room, and in a few seconds they 
are up at the top story. No long flight of 
winding stair-cases to climb, when tired 
and weary. It is one of the greatest lux- 
uries of modern hotel life. In a great rush, 
sometimes one has to wait a few minutes 
for the elevator before he can ascend. 
Thousands of young men to-day are wait- 
ing for an elevator — one that will carry 
them right up to the highest pinnacle of 
their lofty ambition. In vain they may wait 
for it. If they ever reach a respectable 
standing in any community, it will be by 
the old way of climbing up, step by step. 
No patent elevator has yet been invented, 
or ever will be, that will lift one up any 
other way than by his own individual ef- 
forts. Every one must construct his own 
elevator, and run it by his own inherent 
motive power — elevate himself — or he will 
never rise to any position worthy of the 



How to Achieve Success. 71 

noble powers with which nature has en- 
dowed him. If you are born a prince of 
royal blood, in due time, if you live, you 
will reach the throne, wear the crown, and 
sway the sceptre over loyal subjects, bow- 
ing to your nod; but that will not happen 
on this continent. My advice to every 
young man is: spend no time in tracing 
back your pedigree, as it is a great waste 
of time, for, if of royal lineage, you will not 
be lost sight of, for "blood will tell." You 
will be found out, and in due time elevated 
to the throne you were born to sit upon. 
So, if you are satisfied that such is not your 
destiny, do not wait for the elevator — it 
never will come down to carry you up. 
Your only chance is the old stair-case, and 
the sooner you convince yourself of the 
fact, and commence climbing step by step, 
the better — making every step count one 
step higher than the last, and, if you can. 
pass your competitors on the up-grade, da 
it. Emulation is a noble quality of the soul^ 
and should be exercised continually. 

A word of caution: Do not become too 
greatly elated and lose your balance. Be 
sure of your footing, placing every step 
you take firmly on the treads. Although 
the stair-case is very old, it will be found 
just as firm and secure as it was when the 
first traveler passed up. Do not wait, then, 
for the elevator. We often hear of young 



72 How to Achieve Success. 

men telling of their future prospects — "lay- 
ing back" on their oars at ease; building 
air-castles to vanish with the breath that 
inflates them. They are waiting for an 
elevator. 

A young man says, "My father is a candi- 
date for sheriff, and, if he is elected, I am 
to be his deputy." He is waiting for the 
elevator. Another says, "When my old 
uncle is dead, I shall come into possession 
of a fortune — enough to keep me, without 
any business to bother my head about." 
He is only waiting for his elevator. Thou- 
sands of young men have in store for them- 
selves "great expectations," of fortune or 
position; all are waiting for the elevator. 
Just where or how it is to come they have 
not the faintest conception. They antici- 
pate that some motive power will be 
brought into requisition, which will just 
lift them right up to the very places they 
have selected as congenial to their tastes 
and ambition. They belong to the class 
that is always hanging around the foot of 
the stair-cases, waiting for the elevator that 
never comes down to take them up. 

BLEW UP HIS SHIPS — BURNED THE BRIDGES. 

We read of a general who, after landing 
his troops in the enemy's country, blew up 
his ships, so that his men might know there 
was no going back with him; it was fight 



How to Achieve Szcccess. 73 

or die. So it was with the general who 
burned the bridges behind him. When an 
army knows all retreat is cut off it will 
fight, like the man teaching a swimming- 
school, who threw his boys overboard and 
told them to "strike out," which they had 
to do or drown. In battle, the raw recruits 
are often put in the front and the old vet- 
erans in the rear, to prevent a hasty retreat 
or a panic. If many young men were har- 
nessed where they could not get away, and 
"must pump or drown," they might dazzle 
the world by their brilliant achievements. 

DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. 

The May of life only blooms once. — Schiller. 
" Despair and postponement are cowardice and 
defeat. Men are born to succeed, not to fail." 

Putting off until to-morrow what should 
be done to-day, is only putting off the 
main chance, to be defeated at last. A 
general in the British army, who was asked 
when he would be ready to sail for India, 
replied, "Now;" and he won the title of 
"Marshal Forward." General Grant won 
his battles by being always ready to move 
at once, and with alacrity, at the right time. 
"I propose to move on your works im- 
mediately," was what saved one sanguin- 
ary conflict. This timidity — this seeing a 
bear or a lion in the way — is fatal to any 
man's success. If vou once commence to 



74 How to Achieve Success. 

dodge or go around the first obstacle that 
confronts you, you will do so the next, and 
so on. How many young men say on New 
Year's day, "I am going to turn over a new 
leaf. I am going to strike out," but find 
when the end of the year comes around, 
that they did not turn over the leaf, and 
did not strike out! The majority of men 
fall into a rut and remain in it until they 
die. A year only counts one, and doesn't 
count anything else. They come in on the 
same track on which they went out — unlike 
the old man's dog that came in "a little 
ahead of the fox." 



How to Achieve Success. 75 



THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 

THE CONFLICT IS YOURS ARE YOU READY 

FOR THE BATTLE? 

It is impossible to be a hero in anything, unless 
one is first a hero in faith.— Jacobi. 

Press on! surmount the rocky steeps; 

Climb boldly o'er the torrent's arch; 
He fails alone who feebly creeps; 

He wins who dares the hero's march. 

Be thou a hero! let thy might 
Tramp on eternal snows its way, 

And through the ebon walls of night, 
Hew down a passage unto day. 

— Park Benjamin. 

It will never do for a young man to sit 
down and wait for something to turn up; 
he must turn up something for himself. If 
he expects any one to neglect his own af- 
fairs to work for him personally, he will be 
^greatly mistaken. Each one has a battle 
of his own on hand to fight, and if he does 
not strip himself for the conflict, he will be 
ingloriously defeated. It is a free fight, and 
every one has a chance for himself. If he 
sits down and waits for assistance, or for 
someone to fight the battle for him, his 
chances of winning success will be lost, 
and he will be lodged in a ditch from which 
he never can extricate himself. This "wait- 
ing for Blucher," or some one else, to come 



76 How to Achieve Success. 

to your aid, is simply to be vanquished 
while you are waiting. Waiting for some 
rich relative, some old aunt or uncle, to 
die, strikes the death-knell of your oppor- 
tunities — tolls the bell for your own fu- 
neral — and when you are ready for burial, 
mourners will be few. If you succumb to 
the first little obstacle that confronts you, 
the next will be more formidable, and so on 
ad infinitum. To lie down and give up to 
opposition, is fatal to your success in any- 
thing you undertake. 

OPPOSITION. 

He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves 
and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our 
helper. — Burke. 

Every young man, in order to rise, must 
have opposition. The kite will not go up 
in a calm, or remain up when it is calm. 
A vessel cannot sail on a quiet sea, in a' 
dead calm. It is the storm that hastens the 
bark to its destination. To develop power 
you must meet opposition. It is competi- 
tion, opposition, that brings a man out. It 
avails nothing for a young man to be at the 
head of his class all the time. It is ener- 
vating to any student to be always the best 
one of his class, for then he has no stimulant 
to nerve him up to greater efforts. You 
must have opposition if you would excel. 



How to Achieve Success. 77 

When one of Napoleon's marshals told 
him the Alps were in the way of his pro- 
posed campaign, he answered him, with 
tremendous emphasis, "There are no 
Alps." Mountains piled upon mountains, 
gorges, chasms, or glaciers, however 
broad, or deep, or slippery, became mere 
mole-hills before his resistless, unconquer- 
able ambition. No such word as "fail" was 
in his vocabulary. 

GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

General Taylor won imperishable re- 
nown in the war with Mexico, and was 
designated as "the man who never knew 
when he was whipped." With all of his 
bull-dog tenacity he ever kept on fighting. 
Propelled by his indomitable spirit which 
knew no surrender, he never gave up; 
though his army might be cut in pieces, 
and half of his troops lying dead on the 
battle-field, he would rally his broken and 
shattered ranks to charge the enemy again 
with redoubled fury. Although every ad- 
vantage was with the Mexicans, yet Gen- 
eral Taylor's invincible spirit fired his gal- 
lant soldiers with a dash and daring that 
carried dismay into the ranks of the enemy, 
and, sweeping down on them with terrific 
impetuosity, no force was left on the bat- 
tle-field to oppose him. The enemy fled 
like chaff before a whirlwind; General Tay- 



78 How to Achieve Success. 

lor won the sobriquet that will ever attach 
to his name — ''Rough and Ready" — the 
soldier who "never knew when he was 
whipped." That unconquerable spirit 
made the gallant soldier the twelfth Presi- 
dent of the United States. Such is the stuff 
heroes are made of. No milk-and-water 
composition in the men who make their 
mark in the world! They did not spend 
their best days lying around street-corners 
and saloons, waiting for something to turn 
up. Far from it. They were preparing 
for the fight years before the battle began, 
and that was what made them victorious 
when the crisis came. 

ON THE VOYAGE EACH ONE HIS OWN 

PILOT. 

" Voyager upon life's sea, 
To yourself be true; 
And whate'er your lot may be, 
Paddle your own canoe. 

" When the world is cold and dark, 
Keep an aim in view; 
And towards the beacon mark, 
Paddle your own canoe. 

11 Leave to heaven, in humble trust, 
All you will to do; 
But, if you succeed, you must 
Paddle your own canoe. ' ' 

Launched on the voyage of life, every 
young man eventually arrives at a point 
where his little bark must be cut loose from 



How to Achieve Success. 79 

pilotage, and the guiding hand of parental 
care must be withdrawn. Each returning 
wave will carry him still farther away, and, 
if he would reach the desired port in safety, 
he must "paddle his own canoe." No one 
can or will paddle it for him, and the sooner 
he becomes aware of this fact the better. 
However much he may dread its hardships 
and dangers, or however weary he be- 
comes, there is no escape from it — there is 
no going ashore. Inexorable fate compels 
every one to make the voyage. Success or 
failure rests with each voyager. Already 
he is adrift. He is in the current — ever in- 
creasing as it bears him farther and farther 
out to where the billows run the highest 
and storms rage the fiercest. The desired 
haven is up stream, and the current is full 
of wrecks sweeping past, greatly increasing 
the danger. The trip affords no quiet har- 
bor, no lee shore, no anchorage-ground; 
no stopping-place along the way for rest; 
no place where the current slackens its 
swiftness. It never slackens; it is always 
rapid, ever increasing as the years speed 
along. There can be no resting on the 
oars. Every lost stroke imperils the safety 
of the voyage. Only by constant and vig- 
orous pulling at the oars can the rushing 
current be overcome. Drop the oars, or lie 
down at ease, and the current sweeps the 
bark downward, and the longer the rest, 



80 How to Achieve Success, 

the swifter it goes, with ever-accelerating 
speed. Every moment it rapidly nears the 
whirlpool — the vortex. If once caught by 
the boiling surges, your fate is sealed. A 
leap, a plunge, and you are engulfed in an 
abyss from which there is no rescue — no 
escape. The voyage is over — it is lost. 
"Oh! the wrecks along that shore!" It is 
lined with stranded barks. Would you 
look at them? Visit the jails, the state 
prisons, the mad-houses — they are there. 
Listen to the sad tales they tell, and the 
songs they sing. The refrain is but the 
wail of thousands — of millions; of fortunes 
lost, of hopes blasted, of disappointed am- 
bitions, and of hopeless despair, over the 
failure of a voyage that cannot be repeated. 
Daily the tale is told — the song is sung in 
doleful strains, like funeral marches of the 
dead. 

Do you want to see the barks that are 
floating down stream? They are every- 
where. Young men loafing on the street- 
corners are floating down stream; young 
men hanging around saloons, playing cards 
for drinks, are floating down stream; 
young men wasting their precious time in 
idleness are floating down stream; young 
men who neglect the cultivation of their 
intellectual talents are floating down 
stream; young men who squander their 
earnings, saving nothing, are floating 



How to Achieve Success. 81 

down stream. They are a dangerous class 
in any community. Property, life, are 
nothing to them. 

WHAT EVERY YOUNG MAN MUST HAVE. 

Every young man must have a chart, a 
compass, and an anchor, with a cable that 
will not part. Hundreds of young men 
start out having none of these. Going to 
sea without a compass is to be lost; going 
to sea without a chart is foolhardiness; go- 
ing to sea without an anchor and a strong 
cable, is simply to be driven by every gale, 
to be dashed upon the rocks and lost. You 
must trace out on your chart, in detail, the 
way you wish to go. You must grasp the 
helm, and hold it firm on the course, 
against all combined forces. Never let go 
the helm. 

don't give up. 

On the day of victory no weariness is felt. — 
Arabic Proverb. 

The continual dropping of water will 
wear away the hardest stone. It is the re- 
peated blows that break the rock. It is the 
last stroke of the pick that turns up the 
shining dust. Many a man has been right 
on the brink of a princely fortune and lost 
it through not striking one blow more. 
When you take hold of an enterprise, stick 
to it until you have tested it. Go to the 
end. It was the last shot that hit the 



82 How to Achieve Success. 

magazine and blew up the enemy's works. 
Add one step more before you abandon the 
race. 

Governor Morton, of Massachusetts, was 
a candidate for sixteen successive years be- 
fore he was chosen to the office, and at last 
was elected by a majority of only one vote. 

PERSEVERANCE. 
One step and then another, 

And the longest walk is ended; 
One stitch and then another, 

And the largest rent is mended; 
One brick upon another, 

And the highest wall is made; 
One flake upon another, 

And the deepest snow is laid. 

So the little coral workers, 

By their slow and constant motion 
Have built those pretty islands 

In the distant dark-blue ocean; 
And the noblest undertakings 

Man's wisdom hath conceived, 
By oft-repeated effort 

Have been patiently achieved. 

Then do not look disheartened 

On the work you have to do, 
And say that such a mighty task 

You never can get through; 
But just endeavor day by day 

Another point to gain, 
And soon the mountain which you feared 

Will prove to be a plain. 

A Davenport boy went to New York to 
solicit a position to travel for a wholesale 



How to Achieve Success. 83 

house. He went five times to one estab- 
lishment, and every time was told they did 
not want to engage him. He tried to pre- 
vail on them to allow him to make a trial 
trip. No, they would not do that. Finally 
he proposed to buy a small stock of goods. 
This was business. They were ready to 
sell. He went upon the road, sold his stock 
and made money. The firm saw that he 
"meant business," and they consented to 
employ him to travel for them. Now he is 
one of the firm, and is worth a large sum of 
money. It was his persistence that won. 
Not one boy in a hundred would have had 
the courage to apply a second time. Noth- 
ing like courage and faith when an object 
is to be accomplished. 

A young man brought up to hard work 
on a farm, trained to the closest economy 
in his earlier years, has the power of endur- 
ance that a city boy does not possess; con- 
sequently has at least one of the qualities 
needed to make the better business man. 

CATCHING THE TRAIN. 

The sure way to miss success is to miss the 
opportunity. — Philarete Chasles. 

We must take the current when it serves, or lose 
our ventures. — Shakspeare. 

We have seen a man start out to take a 
morning train. He would look at his 
watch and say, "Well, I am a little late this 



84 How to Achieve Success. 

morning; I guess I shall miss the train," 
and he goes moping along just as though 
he meant to miss it. He hears the whistle 
and then begins to quicken his pace. As 
the train nears the depot he runs with all 
his might, and arrives at the depot just as 
the train moves out at the opposite end. 
Out of breath, he exclaims, "That is just 
my luck. I expected I would miss it when 
I started." See the difference: His neigh- 
bor looks at his watch, and says to his wife, 
"Only three minutes to train-time; I'll 
make it; good-bye!" and he tears down 
street; and, just as the train reaches the 
depot, he enters at the opposite end, and 
remarks to a friend, that this is "a little the 
quickest time" he ever made — "I told my 
wife I'd make it, and I am here." This 
man runs to win — the other runs to miss. 
Each had the same time and had to cover 
the same distance. 

Resolution is mighty, when backed by 
an unconquerable will to carry it out. 
Resolution is worthless, when there is 
nothing to back it. It was the starting- 
place where the race was decided. 

There is never but one opportunity of a kind. 
O! opportunity, thy guilt is great. — Thoreau. 

TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS LOST! TEN THOU- 
SAND DOLLARS WON ! 

The man who went on the first train 
bought the morning paper, and looking 



How to Achieve Success. 85 

over the market reports found that nails 
had advanced seventy-five cents per keg. 
As soon as he reached his counting-room 
he withdrew from sale all the nails he had 
on hand. He sent out his confidential 
clerk to buy all the nails he could at "yes- 
terday's prices." He drops into the store 
of the man who missed the morning train, 
buys his entire stock of nails, to be deliv- 
ered on call, and passes over a check for 
the same. The next train, three hours 
later, brings in the man who missed the 
first train. Clerks are busy, and a large 
pile of letters from correspondents requires 
his first attention. When lunch-time ar- 
rives he steps into the merchant's dining- 
rooms, and while waiting to be served 
looks over the morning paper, reads the 
market reports, and learns that nails have 
advanced seventy-five cents per keg. Bolt- 
ing his dinner hurriedly he hastens back 
to his store to "mark up prices" on nails, 
and finds that his neighbor has bought him 
out at "yesterday's prices." He exclaims, 
"Just my luck; missing the first train, I 
have missed a clean profit of ten thousand 
dollars on the stock of nails I had on hand 
last night." Luck! There was no luck 
about it. It was the two minutes too late for 
the first train. Young man, remember to 
take the first train. The first man made 
ten thousand dollars, and the last man lost 



86 How to Achieve Success. 

ten thousand dollars that he might have 
made. 

EXPERIENCE MUST BE PAID FOR. 

Young men, however enthusiastic they 
may be, or however hard they may work 
to win success in a business they have 
never learned, must pay liberally to learn 
the business, and may make a miserable 
failure at last. It is a very absurd idea 
that a person can enter into a business 
without the slightest knowledge of it, and 
compete successfully with old and ex- 
perienced men, who have been trained to it 
from boyhood, and thoroughly educated in 
it. Suppose some foolhardy fellow should 
step up to the engineer of a passenger- 
train, some dark and stormy night, and say 
to him, ''Mr. Engineer, allow me to take 
your place at the engine. I have seen how 
you pull those levers. I can do that as well 
as you." Do you think there would be a 
single passenger who would remain on the 
train, with such a fellow at the throttle- 
valve? Do you think a pilot on one of the 
great steamers on Long Island Sound, 
coming into New York harbor, in a raging 
storm, or even on a clear moonlight night, 
would stand aside and allow a stranger, 
who never was on a steamer before in his 
life, to take the helm? Would not the pas- 
sengers rise and hurl the intruder from the 



How to Achieve Success. 87 

wheel? Every passenger's life would be in 
peril — all would be liable to death every 
moment. An indignation meeting would 
be held at once. The pilot, captain, and all 
hands would be condemned as guilty of the 
grossest carelessness, and utterly unworthy 
of the positions they occupied. The idea 
of allowing an ignoramus to act as en- 
gineer or pilot, where lives and property 
are in constant jeopardy, would bring 
down the anathemas of every one, simply 
because of his ignorance of the requirements 
of the position he assumes to fill. It is 
precisely so with a young man who thinks 
he can run any kind of business he may wish 
to engage in, when he knows not the first 
requisites. Not one in a hundred will suc- 
ceed who makes the trial. You can write 
it down as one of your maxims, that "It 
costs money to learn how to do business 
successfully." 



How to Achieve Success. 



HOW SOME MEN HAVE SUC- 
CEEDED. 

ECONOMY THE SECRET. 

If you know how to spend less than you get you 
have the philosopher's stone. — Franklin. 

Economy is of itself a great revenue. — Cicero. 

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink 
a great ship. — Franklin. 

Economizing one's resources is the true 
secret of success. It is the best foundation 
upon which any successful business man 
can build his fortune. A young man, a 
stranger, in the city of Boston, traveled up 
and down the streets, seeking employment, 
but being unsuccessful in finding what he 
wanted, he stumbled upon a load of coal 
lying on a sidewalk, and took the job of 
shoveling it into the cellar for a York 
shilling (twelve and a half cents). He 
saved the shilling, and it was the first step 
towards the acquisition of the magnificent 
fortune he afterward secured. 

We know a young man who started busi- 
ness on his own account, with a small cap- 
ital, in a city among strangers. At first, 
trade came to him slowly. Profits were 
small, and he was compelled to cut down 
his expenses- to the lowest cent. Did he 



How to Achieve Success. 89 

board at a first-class hotel, at sixty or sev- 
enty dollars per month, and treat the ac- 
quaintances he made to cigars and drinks? 
Did he come out with a new suit every six 
days? Did he spend his Sundays behind a 
fast horse? No! He lived with his busi- 
ness, slept with it, and set his own table. 
His regular diet consisted of baker's bread 
and fruit, apples, raw tomatoes, etc., at the 
cost of ten cents a day. Did he succeed? 
Yes. Every young man can and will suc- 
ceed when he makes up his mind to it. 
The trouble with most young men is, they 
will not make up their minds, and don't 
half try. A thousand good resolutions are 
but a waste of paper and ink, when not 
backed up with an invincible spirit ready 
to carry them out, or die in the effort. 

To any one of our readers who has not 
teen to St. Louis, we will say that, should 
you ever go there, you will find two very 
remarkable attractions, on which St. Louis 
prides itself. One is the great bridge across 
the Mississippi river — a wonderful piece of 
engineering skill; the other is Shaw's 
botanical gardens, where the choicest and 
rarest of flowers, shrubs, plants, or 
trees can be seen growing to perfection. 
To our idea, it comes the nearest to 
Paradise of anything on this earth. If 
you have anything that grows in soil, of 
which Mr. Shaw has not a duplicate, he 



90 How to Achieve Success. 

will pay you handsomely for it. Mr. Shaw 
is nature's nobleman. His enterprise 
reaches to the ends of the earth; he has 
spent thousands of dollars in securing 
every variety of plant, bringing together 
within his garden walls the most com- 
plete horticultural collection on the globe, 
and no expense or labor is withheld to 
bring everything to perfection; yet, after 
all this immense outlay, and many years of 
toil and labor, the whole world is gener- 
ously invited to come in and enjoy it with 
him, and the great iron gate swings wide 
open to admit the humblest and the poor- 
est man, woman, or child who knocks at 
its portals. 

How did Mr. Shaw become so wealthy? 
Were his riches bequeathed to him by some 
rich relative in the old country? When St. 
Louis was simply a little trading-post, Mr. 
Shaw lived in a log-hut on the banks of 
the river, and sold jack-knives, fish-hooks, 
etc. From time to time, as he could spare 
a little money from the profits of his jack- 
knife sales, he invested it in land around 
St. Louis, which the government was sell- 
ing at $1.25 per acre, and as the city in- 
creased in population, his lands appreciated 
in value, and he became immensely rich by 
the rise in his land investments. Mr. Shaw 
practiced the strictest economy until he 
secured a fortune. 



How to Achieve Success. 91 



WORKING TO WIN. 

Two young men entered into a partner- 
ship and bought a manufacturing estab- 
lishment in the vicinity of Davenport, la., 
expecting, with an ordinary amount of dili- 
gence, to succeed. They very soon learned 
that they had been grossly deceived as to 
the amount of business there was to be 
done, and that the establishment was so 
run down and worn out that it would re- 
quire a large outlay before they could real- 
ize anything. Not being thoroughly con- 
versant with the business, they needed to 
rely upon others to direct what should be 
done, and in this they were again out- 
rageously deceived. It did not take them 
long to comprehend the situation — that 
they were badly involved. Two ways 
opened before them — either to quit work, 
abandon the property, and lose all, or 
buckle down to the task of trying to carry 
the heavy burden saddled upon them. The 
latter course was decided upon, and they 
went to work with a will that nothing could 
dampen or discourage. The first step was 
to cut down their personal expenses to the 
very lowest cent; to spend not a 
dime except when absolutely unavoidable. 
Their table expenses were adjusted on that 
basis. Butter, tea, sugar, and coffee were 
stricken from the bill of fare. Flour and 



92 How to Achieve Success. 

corn-bread were their regular diet. For 
years they lived in this way and worked 
incessantly, day and night; saving every- 
where — wasting nothing. It was business 
with them, year in and year out, and no 
holidays — no vacations. Five years passed, 
and with it passed the burden, the heavy 
load, and to-day they are able to live with- 
out labor. It was the indomitable spirit of 
sticking to it that won the victory. It al- 
ways wins. 

It never yet happened to any man, since the be- 
ginning of the world, nor ever will, to have all 
things according to his desires, or to whom fortune 
was never opposite and adverse. — Burton. 

Twenty-five years ago four young men 
were attending the Iowa College, when it 
was located at Davenport, and, having no 
income or friends to help them, they were 
obliged to work their way as best they 
could. They occupied a garret over a store 
near the corner of Second and Brady 
streets. On Saturdays they did little jobs 
around the town, sawing wood, or what- 
ever they could find to do. One cleaned 
bottles for D. C. Eldridge, when he was in 
the drug busine s. They finished their col- 
lege course, and were graduated with 
honors. The partnership of bachelor's hall 
was dissolved, each going his own way to 
make his mark in the world. Three of those 
young men have become ministers. One, 



How to Achieve Success. 93 

Rev. Mr. Tade, is settled in Oregon. Two 
were brothers — one, Rev. William Windsor, 
is the honored pastor of the Congregational 
church at Marshalltown, and his brother, 
Rev. J. H. Windsor, has been settled at 
Grafton, Massachusetts, for many years. 
The fourth became a lawyer, went to St. 
Louis, married into a wealthy family, and 
became one of the first lawyers in the pro- 
fession. During the war he held a very 
important office under the government. 
He was the boy who washed the bottles for 
Mr. Eldridge, that he might earn his bread 
while pursuing his studies in Iowa college. 

KEEP OUT OF DEBT. 

Many delight more in giving of presents than in 
paying their debts. — Sir P. Sidney. 

A slight debt produces a debtor; a heavy one, an 
enemy. — Publius Syrus. 

Getting trusted for an article is by some 
considered equivalent to paying for it. 
Make up your mind that you never will put 
on a single article of apparel until it is paid 
for. Better go with patches on both knees 
and with a crownless hat, than run in debt 
for new ones. It is better to have patches 
on your knees than a patch on your credit. 
If you only start right, and pay as you go, 
you will be right all the time. We know 
of young men who are always behind in 
their payments. They get credit for a suit 



94 How to Achieve Success. 

of clothes, and wear them as long as they 
can, and then order new ones, paying up 
for the old one, only to get a year's credit 
on the new. This costs fully forty per cent 
more than it costs the "cash" customer. 
When a tailor takes a long-time customer 
he holds him right down to the grind- 
stone. Who desires to be seen on the 
street in mortgaged apparel? Here a tailor 
says, 'There goes one of my customers, 
with a suit that's not paid for." Make up 
your mind never to have your name on any 
man's books, for personal expenses of any 
kind. This getting trusted for a box of col- 
lars, or a tooth-pick, is a bad practice, be- 
sides being expensive. No dealer will take 
his chances of losing, without a substantial 
profit. Debt injures any young man's 
reputation. When you are a merchant a 
different course may be advisable. If you 
have a small capital it may be necessary to 
incur some indebtedness; yet we are of the 
opinion that, in the long run, buying and 
selling strictly for cash is the best way to 
do business. A cash buyer can go wher- 
ever he pleases ; he is independent of every- 
body. 



How to Achieve Success. 95 



HINDRANCES TO A SUCCESSFUL 
CAREER. 

IS POVERTY A HINDRANCE? 

The greatest blessing that a young man can en- 
joy is poverty. — Dr. Holland. 

The best education in the world is that got by 
struggling to get a living. — Wendell Phillips. 

Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify; but, 
nine times out of ten, the best thing that can hap- 
pen to a young man is to be tossed overboard, to 
sink or swim for himself. In all my acquaintance 
I never knew a boy to be drowned who was worth 
saving. — President Garfield. 

Boys born in poverty have the best 
chances for success, for the best of all rea- 
sons: that they are compelled to rely upon 
themselves — upon their own individual ef- 
forts — while the sons of the rich rely upon 
the wealth of their fathers, and have no 
incentive to industry and economy — no 
dire necessity which throws them solely 
upon their own resources. Their wants are 
well supplied, while the poor boy has to 
work hard to live; and, if he acquires an 
education, it is by great personal sacrifice. 
If a poor boy once gets a thirst for an edu- 
cation — gets his ambition "fired up," — it 
will carry him through. Some of the most 
distinguished men of our country left the 
humble cottages where they were born — 
up among the hills — with all their personal 



96 How to Achieve Success. 

estate tied in a cotton handkerchief, never 
to return until they had drank deep from 
the fountain of knowledge. Hundreds of 
illustrious men might be named, who were 
born and reared in poverty, and left their 
homes penniless — homes of the plainest 
kind, where comforts were unknown; 
where it was a constant struggle for the 
family to live, daily fighting the wolf from 
the door; where hunger and even want sat 
daily around the family board. 

Many eminent men were born in homes 
that were cold and cheerless, around which 
storms howled and screeched for admit- 
tance; the snow of winter often sprinkling 
the beds wherein lay sleeping the men of 
the future. No hot-air furnaces there to 
burn up the pure oxygen — life's greatest 
elixir — sapping the bloom and flush from 
the rosy cheeks, and the health from the 
system. That's the way the men of the 
great cities commenced their early life. 
They had a discipline superior to those hot- 
houses where unnatural growth is stim- 
ulated at the expense of an impaired con- 
stitution, resulting in premature old age 
and early death. 

Sons of distinguished men — of the great 
statesmen — have seldom risen above the 
positions reached by their fathers — seldom 
have held an equal position — not one in a 
hundred, or, perhaps, one in a thousand. 



How to Achieve Success. 97 

The majority drop far below it — down to 
the level of the commonest people. Some 
have become roving vagabonds — dishonor- 
ing, and disgracing their family names. 
Only once in the history of our country has 
the mantle of a distinguished statesman 
rested with equal honors on his son. That 
son was John Ouincy Adams. Where are 
the sons of the other Presidents? Of other 
public men — of Clay, of Webster, and 
scores of illustrious men who have electri- 
fied their hearers with their glowing elo- 
quence? They are dead — dead to all that 
was noble or grand in the lives of their 
fathers; dead to all ambition, to every im- 
pulse of a noble nature; dead, buried, un- 
missed from society, without mourners — 
no monument erected by a grateful people 
over their graves to carry their names 
down to generations unborn. 

Governor Robinson, of Massachusetts, 
was once asked why he did not make his 
son his private secretary. "Because," he 
answered, "I think too much of my boy to 
set him riding on top of a bubble. He 
must prepare for honorable work in life; 
besides, my family are not going to be pro- 
vided with offices." 

MONEY WELL EARNED GOES THE FARTHEST. 

When a young man earns one hundred 
dollars by hard work, he knows its value. 

7 



98 How to Achieve Success. 

Rich men's sons, who never earned a dol- 
lar in their lives, and have all they want to 
spend, do not know, cannot know, the 
value of a dollar, and never will know until 
they are compelled to earn one by hard 
labor. There are young men in college 
who spend annually more than five thou- 
sand dollars, while classmates are com- 
pelled to cut expenses down to less than 
five hundred. We will venture the predic- 
tion 'that -the one who spends the least 
money while at college will be by far the 
better scholar, and have the most money 
in ten years. One goes to college because 
he has a rich father to pay all the bills, 
while the other goes because he is anxious 
to secure a good education, knowing its 
value as a means to his future success; and 
to secure it he must fight his way through 
poverty and deny himself many of the or- 
dinary comforts of life. 

A story is told of a young man living in 
the oil regions of Pennsylvania, who was 
steady and industrious, driving an ox-team, 
at eighteen dollars per month. His aunt 
died, leaving him an estate worth two mil- 
lion dollars, besides a royalty worth two 
thousand dollars per day. Becoming so 
suddenly rich, he did not know what to do 
with himself or his fortune. He had never 
been away from his mountain home, and 
knew nothing of the great world outside of 



How to Achieve Success. 99 

the narrow bounds in which he lived. He 
decided to see the world, and, for company, 
he hired several young men to go along 
with him to help enjoy the sights and spend 
the money. They started out for Colum- 
bus, Ohio. Arriving at the depot, he got 
up a quarrel with the hackman about the 
fare, and finally settled by buying the hack 
and hiring the driver to take himself and 
friends to the hotel. Here he engaged an 
entire floor for his party, and lay all night 
drunk on the parlor carpet. Next day he 
bought more horses and selected a driver 
to take them around the city. When there 
were no more sights to see, he presented 
the driver with the hack, horses, and all. 
So he went from city to city, spending his 
money in the most lavish manner — aston- 
ishing bootblacks, hotel-runners, and table- 
waiters by gifts of hundred-dollar or five- 
hundred-dollar bank-notes. Any way to 
get rid of two thousand dollars a day! He 
drank at every fountain of pleasure, giving 
free rein to all the passions. But this style 
of living could not last long. The end 
came in less than two years. 

The money did not fail; there was no 
lack of funds — no lack of places to visit or 
sights to see. He was arrested for a debt. 
A stern officer — disease — laid his hands 
upon him. He was bound fast. No bonds 
would be accepted — he could not get bail. 



ioo How to Achieve Success. 

His two millions could not purchase his 
release nor a reprieve and he had to accept 
the inexorable fate — death. Do you think 
when he came down to the border-land, he 
was happy, as he looked back over the last 
two years of his life? Was not eighteen 
dollars a month, driving oxen, better than 
two thousand dollars a day, with all the 
dissipation, and disgrace, and disease he 
had contracted, for which there was no 
relief — no cure? Truly, the way of the 
transgressor is hard, and "the wages of sin 
is death." There is a greater misfortune 
than being born poor. It is in being heir 
to great wealth and not knowing how to 
use it wisely. Wealth that comes without 
effort, without toil, is not always a bless- 
ing. 

A young man in Boston was left with a 
fortune of fifty thousand dollars, and in 
one year's time he had spent it all in gam- 
bling and dissipation. Such instances are 
by no means rare in this country. 

THERE ARE MANY THINGS MONEY CANNOT 

BUY. 

The sons and daughters of the wealthy 
are given the very best advantages afforded 
in this country or abroad. Everything is 
done for them that money and influence 
can do. A distinguished teacher said to us, 
that it was an almost hopeless task to make 



How to Achieve Success. 101 

a good musician, vocal or instrumental, 
out of pupils from the wealthier classes — 
that they should often send them home, 
were it not for the interest the parents had 
in having their child learn music. 

What is the early history of all the sing- 
ers in the fashionable churches in the large 
cities? Are they from the aristocracy? No; 
they came from the poor families — from 
some country home, up among the moun- 
tains, where they had no advantages for im- 
provement. There was where they were 
inspired. The singing of birds, and the 
music of the "rocks and rills," fitted their 
souls for more ambitious strains. The 
more they became filled with nature's 
music the greater became their thirst to 
drink more deeply from its fountains. 
Mountains and hills echo gladsome strains 
— songs almost divine. A party from the 
city, roughing it in the woods, catch the 
echoes, as they leap from hill to hill, from 
crag to cliff, and they are thrilled, en- 
tranced. Where could such strains of 
music come from — "sweet as an angel's 
voice?" The song ceases. The singer 
must be found. They search. A log-cabin 
is discovered. They approach. A timid 
girl retreats behind it. A rap at the door 
meets the response, "Come in." They tell 
of the music that charmed them, and in- 
quire who and where was the singer. The 



102 How to Achieve Success. 

woman knows of no singer there. "That 
is strange. Have you not a little daughter 
who sings?" "Oh, yes; my little girl sings 
to herself. She knows nothing about 
music." "Will you have her come in and 
sing for us?" And the timid girl comes 
reluctantly from her hiding-place to sing 
one of her wild mountain songs. "Ah, we 
have found you out; you are the angel we 
heard singing so sweetly." Five years 
pass. If you are in New York, go to a 
certain church, on Madison avenue, and 
you will hear the same sweet singer sing- 
ing for a salary of three thousand dollars 
a year. 



How to Achieve Success. 103 



BRAINS AND LABOR: RESULT- 
SUCCESS. 

BRAIN-POWER. 

It is brains that win, that conquer and 
control all powers. Brains in harness hold 
the reins of all combined forces, animal 
and mechanical, as well as elemental. A 
celebrated painter was once asked what he 
"mixed his paints with." He replied, 
"With brains." Most of the great battles 
of the world were not won by brute .force, 
nor by the superiority in numbers of men 
engaged on one side over the other, but 
by the brain-power of the victorious com- 
manders, who could arrange all the plans 
for the battle, days, weeks, even months, 
before a movement was made or a gun 
fired, with every division and every man 
assigned to the right position in advance. 
Victory was simply the inevitable result of 
developed brain-power. 

Individuals vary in the quantity of the 
brain they have at birth. It is a fact that 
many a man has made his mark in the 
world who had, by actual weight, a very 
small brain, yet wonderfully active; while 
other men, with Websterian brains, judg- 
ing by weight, have hardly made a rip- 
ple. Like the rich, deep soil of the Miss- 
issippi valley, the brain is of no more value, 



104 How to Achieve Success. 

without cultivation, than the rocky soil of 
New England, or the sand of an African 
desert. 

"There are many cases in which an ex- 
traordinary intellect has accompanied a 
heavy brain, but often men whose mental 
superiority is undoubted, had brains under 
the average weight. The cast of Raphael's 
skull shows that it was smaller than the 
average skull; Charles Dickens's head 
was rather smaller than the average; 
Lord Byron's head was remarkably 
small; Charles Lamb's did not come 
up to the average weight; and it is well- 
known that at the death of Gambetta his 
brain was found to be smaller than that of 
an ordinary Parisian laborer." 

THE PATH-FINDER. 

When General Fremont, the great path- 
finder, undertook to lead his pioneer sol- 
diers over a trackless waste across the 
Rocky mountains, through the deep and 
constantly falling snows of a terribly cold 
winter — a long march of untold suffering, 
which was only surpassed by the army of 
Napoleon, on its return from Moscow — he 
had an experience that tested his mettle, 
and developed his power to control his 
men and himself under a great and trying 
emergency. He had not proceeded far on 
that perilous march before his men began 



How to Achieve Success. 105 

to falter — disheartened and overcome by 
the fatigue of wading through the deep 
snow, and by the intensely bitter cold of 
that great altitude. Falling behind, many 
of his men would lie down in their tracks 
to die. Squads of men would be sent back 
to bring in the stragglers, but no amount 
of persuasion — no realization of the hor- 
rors of death by freezing, of being a feast 
for wolves, and no amount of force 
used upon them could rouse them 
even to reach the camp, and they 
had to be left where they were — to 
their fate. Fremont became alarmed as he 
saw his ranks diminishing, and he was fear- 
ful that the whole command would perish 
in the mountains. 

But he was equal to the emergency, and 
issued imperative orders to shoot the first 
man who lay down on the march. The 
result was electric. Not a man straggled 
behind; not a man was shot; the command 
was saved. An indomitable, unconquer- 
able spirit, was master of the situation. 
Until the last man was dead in his tracks, 
and his own last drop of blood congealed 
in his veins, he would unfalteringly ex- 
ecute his plans. It was victory or death. 
To have halted was sure death; to go for- 
ward was death, had he slackened his dis- 
cipline in the smallest degree. 

Was it the sudden, unexpected difficul- 



xo6 ' How to Achieve Success, 

ties with which he found himself sur- 
rounded that made him a hero in that per- 
ilous expedition? Far from it. It was the 
discipline, the training, the conquering- of 
himself years before this, which had fitted 
him for just such an emergency. How 
unlike Alexander the Great, who subdued 
everything but himself. When Fremont 
mapped out a plan of action, it was to win. 
Everything — every movement — was plan- 
ned with a view to its accomplishment. 
Probably not one man in a million could 
have crossed the Rocky mountains under 
similar circumstances. General Fremont 
well earned the name of "Path-finder." 

WANT A TURNPIKE. 

Genius finds its own road, and carries its own 
lamp. — Willmont. 

Out of difficulties grew miracles. — Bruyere. 

Some men can easily follow a well-beaten 
road, but when it comes to cutting their 
way through a trackless wilderness, over 
mountains towering up among the clouds, 
in the deep snow, facing the terrific blasts 
of an Arctic winter, sweeping down upon 
them from the lofty and barren peaks of the 
Rockies, they are out of their element. 
Contrast General Fremont's achievements 
with the Donner lake catastrophe. Here 
was a party of some seventy persons, who 
undertook, in mid-winter, to go through to 



How to Achieve Success. 107 

California, and were lost in the snow, and 
compelled to eat the dead bodies of their 
companions. Every soul perished. They 
had no Fremont for a leader, and so leader 
and all perished. 

BORN GREAT. 

Notwithstanding the ancient saying, 
men are not born great; greatness is not 
thrust upon any one. Men who have dis- 
tinguished themselves have carved out 
their own fortunes by indefatigable zeal, 
and unconquerable determination never to 
surrender — never to give up. They be- 
came the "architects of their own fortunes. ,, 
The way is clear; the doors stand wide 
open for every young man in America to 
accomplish something that may make his 
pathway through life bright, and leave for 
him a name that will rot be forgotten, 
when he shall have finished his career. 

There are plenty of illustrations of what 
young men have accomplished by faithful 
concentration of their efforts on special 
lines of scientific investigation. The same 
opportunities have been and are now open 
to hundreds of young men in our city, and 
in every city in the country. Why do they 
not improve them? Are their minds occu- 
pied in scientific researches in other direc- 
tions, preparing to bring before the world 
new discoveries in the sciences and arts? 



108 How to Achieve Success. 

It is one of the saddest thoughts to every 
reflective mind that so many young men, 
endowed with good natural abilities, if ex- 
ercised in the right direction, are wasting 
their talents aimlessly. They could distin- 
guish themselves in the world if they would 
only turn their efforts in the right channels. 
Instead of that, they neglect the cultivation 
of their talents, and the fires that ought to 
burn clear and bright are smothered. The 
fine abilities of the young men of to-day, if 
properly developed, would, in twenty years, 
revolutionize the world. The wheels of 
progress would roll on, and the wonders of 
to-day would be eclipsed by the new and 
greater discoveries in the world of science. 
The present modes of travel and of inter- 
change of thought would become too slow 
and obsolete. 

There was a time when the earth was 
supposed to be the centre of the universe, 
and the heavenly bodies to revolve around 
it. Astronomers then discovered that the 
sun was the centre of a system, and every 
member of the system revolved around the 
sun. More powerful telescopes were con- 
structed, which revealed stars that did not 
seem to revolve around the sun. The 
heavens were scanned for years to solve 
the mystery. Larger telescopes were 
made, sweeping across the immense spaces 
without limit, and other stars, other worlds, 



How to Achieve Success. 109 

appeared. This new and startling discov- 
ery was overwhelming. The stupendous 
proposition could not be solved by any 
previous hypothesis. In vain have philos- 
ophers tried to fix the bounds, to limit the 
power of the infinite, beyond which He 
could not act or exist; yet, when the mind 
grasped each new discovery, the curtain 
lifted to unfold still greater mysteries. The 
vastness, the immense distances interven- 
ing between our systems and other un- 
known systems, is as yet unfathomable and 
incomprehensible. Where is the end — ■ 
where the bounds? Who, by searching, 
can find out the Almighty? What a field 
remains to be explored in the starry 
heavens! Who are to build the greater 
instruments of the future? Who are to 
read the heavens under the light of the 
next new revelation? Who are to be the 
men to startle the world by revolutionizing 
the present methods of travel by sea, earth, 
and air? 

The world is in its infancy. Each day 
brings a new revelation; each year brings 
new demonstration of man's progress in 
supremacy over the elements above and 
under the earth. A decade, and the world 
of science and art erects a barrier between 
the past and present, that buries in ob- 
scurity the wonders of a dying generation. 
What possibilities for the young man of 



no How to Achieve Success. 

the period, just stepping upon the stage of 
active life, to revel in the new and startling 
developments, surpassing all the achieve- 
ments of centuries gone before! What op- 
portunities to inscribe his name high above 
all of the combined wisdom of the past 
and present! Young man, look up, and not 
down! There is plenty of room at the top 
for you. Will you occupy it? The burden 
is on your shoulders. Will you carry it? 
And, concentrating your efforts upon one 
thing, with indomitable energy, you will be 
the victorious champion of whatever you 
shall undertake. 

" The gods sell everything good for labor." 

HOW ONE MAN WON. 

Victory belongs to the most persevering. — Napo- 
leon. 

For they can conquer who believe they can. — 
Virgil. 

Some twenty-five years ago a young man 
left his home in Massachusetts, and took a 
situation in a mercantile house to sell dry 
goods and Yankee notions. It was not, 
however, congenial to his tastes or educa- 
tion. He therefore dropped the yard-stick, 
jumped the counter, and said good-bye to 
all. He entered the law office of a leading 
attorney of Davenport, and went to read- 
ing Blackstone, Coke, etc. His financial 
condition was such that he did not need to 
solicit the banks to take charge of his sur- 



How to Achieve Success. in 

plus funds; neither did they solicit his de- 
posits. There was, in this regard, a mutual 
indifference all around. He may have been 
troubled with dyspepsia, for he avoided 
hotel fare, and accepted, in lieu thereof, 
plain boarding-house diet. His theory was, 
that to become a good student, whether for 
business or for a profession, the best plan 
was to fall in love with the calling. He 
practiced this theory, and became thor- 
oughly enthusiastic in pursuit of legal lore, 
applying himself diligently to his books 
day and night. His wardrobe answered 
the double purpose of dress for the day 
and dress for the night — bed-spreads and 
all. His economy was worthy of the high- 
est praise. A financial crisis hung over 
him continually, and all that saved him 
from going under were insignificant cases 
before police justices, which his employer 
would not undertake, and which wereturned 
over to our hero to make what he could 
out of them. 

Opportunities of this kind were exceed- 
ingly welcome; the practice and fees were 
well appreciated. Indefatigable in his at- 
tention to the duties of the office where he 
was employed, always ready to work day 
and night, if necessary, reading up the 
authorities, preparing cases for trial, etc., 
his services became very valuable. Such 
devotion to business is sure to bring its 



ii2 How to Achieve Success. 

reward in due time. Most young men do 
not realize this fact, however, till too late 
in life. The business of the office was con- 
stantly increasing. A partner was wanted, 
and, although a score of young men had 
been trained in the same office, none had 
been so devoted to the interests of the 
office as he, and so he became the junior 
partner. Poverty had been his companion 
in all these years. 

Now the wheel of fortune begins to re- 
volve anew, and brings around to the new 
partner, from one case gained, a snug fee 
of more than forty thousand dollars. 
Other suits gained roll in additional fees, 
fat and heavy. Our young attorney does 
not eat boarding-house fare now, or sleep 
in his clothes on a bunk, under the shadows 
of cords of legal opinions, or sit up night 
after night to write up briefs. He has re- 
tired from the practice of the law, owns a 
charming villa, lives in the quiet enjoyment 
of one of Davenport's most beautiful 
homes, where friends are always welcome. 
He has spent nearly two years traveling in 
foreign countries. He is a true gentleman, 
greeting all with a genuine cordiality that 
makes one feel better every time of meet- 
ing. He did not consult fortune-tellers or 
spirit-rappers, but went to work to make 
his fortune, and made it by labor — the way 
all legitimate fortunes are made. 



How to Achieve Success. 113 

Let us suppose that he had been indif- 
ferent and unaccommodating every time 
he was asked to do a little extra work; the 
result would have been that he would be 
where hundreds of other young men are 
to-day — without money and without repu- 
tation, filling a place that is better unfilled. 
Whenever we hear "My Country, 'Tis of 
Thee!" sung, we think of its venerable 
author, and his son, S. F. Smith, Esq., of 
Oak Lawn, Davenport, Iowa. 

Help thyself, and God will help thee. — George 
Herbert. 



H4 How to Achieve Success. 

MEN WHO STARTED AT THE FOOT 
OF THE LADDER. 

People seldom improve when they have no other 
model but themselves to copy. — Goldsmith. 

My advice is to consult the lives of other men, 
as we would a looking-glass, and from thence fetch 
examples for our imitation. — Terence. 

He hath a daily beauty in his life. — Shakspeare. 

There is transcendent power in example. — Mad- 
ame Swetchine. 

General Grant, when the war broke out, 
was tanning hides at Galena, Illinois. He 
had been a farmer, had hauled wood into 
St. Louis, and had failed to make a fortune 
at farming or anything else. When he was 
appointed colonel of an Illinois regiment, 
he had not the money to buy his uniform 
and necessary equipage. His old friend, E. 
A. Collins, Esq., loaned him the money — 
four hundred dollars. He had failed in 
everything he had taken hold of, but his 
military record shows that he had found 
his forte; also the enemy's t fort, and taken 
it. He reached the highest round of fame 
ever attained by any human being. The 
entire world has honored U. S. Grant. 

Daniel Webster had no remarkable traits 
of character in boyhood. He was sent to 
Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. After 
remaining awhile he gave up and started 



How to Achieve Success. 115, 

home. A neighbor found him on his way, 
by the roadside, crying, and asked what 
was the matter. He said he could never 
make a scholar; he was always at the foot 
of his class, and the boys were making fun 
of him, and he had given up school and 
was going home. The neighbor told him 
that he must not do that, but go back to 
school, and if he would study hard, it 
would not be long before he would stand 
at the head of his class. Daniel took the 
advice and went back. He applied him- 
self to his studies with a determination to 
win, and it was not long before he changed 
his position from the foot to the head of the 
class, and kept there, and silenced those 
who had ridiculed him for his poor scholar- 
ship. When he was graduated at Dart- 
mouth College, he was not assigned to the 
position he thought belonged to him. After 
receiving his diploma, he went back of the 
college building and said to his associates, 
'This diploma will not make me a great 
man. If I ever distinguish myself hereafter 
it will be by my own individual efforts ; this 
sheep-skin will not do it." He tore up his 
diploma, with the remark that "Dartmouth 
College will hear from me." And they did 
hear from him, for they had to call him 
back to save their charter — the charter of 
the college that did not appreciate his 
talents when he was graduated; and they 



n6 How to Achieve Success. 

were compelled to employ him in its de- 
fense, and it was by his masterly efforts 
that it was established on a foundation as 
lasting as the granite upon which it rests. 
When he appeared at the trial, the question 
was asked by the leading men of the bar, 
"What can that young man 3ay in defense 
of the college charter?" The odds were 
against him. A rich and powerful State, 
with the finest legal talent, was arrayed 
against a young man, who stood alone, and 
who was engaged simply because the college 
was too poor to employ first-class counsel. 
The young man found something to say, 
and his masterly eloquence brought tears 
to the eyes of the presiding judge, as well 
as many of the spectators. He did have 
something to say, and he said it well. 

Hon. George W. McCrary, once Secre- 
tary of War and successor to Judge Dillon 
of the United States circuit court, started 
life as a poor lad, and worked on a farm, 
to help his widowed mother maintain the 
family. His manly bearing in his youthful 
days won for him the respect of every one. 
A straightforward course won for him the 
place he afterward occupied. 

Judge James Grant started low down on 
the ladder. He walked all the way from 
South Carolina to Davenport, Iowa, with 
his entire worldly effects tied up in a 
bandanna handkerchief, slung on a stick 



How to Achieve Success. 117 

over his shoulder. He afterward owned 
the largest law-library in the State of Iowa, 
and tendered it to Scott county as a free 
gift. He received more than $150,000 in 
fees from a single suit. At the age of 
sixty-eight he retired from the profession, 
went east, entered a school, and took a 
complete course in mineralogy, metallurgy, 
and chemistry, after which he was engaged 
in mining enterprises, and met with 
marked success. He owned, and afterward 
sold, the largest smelt-works in the world, 
located at Leadville, Colorado. He gave 
four of his nephews the best opportunities 
at home and abroad to acquire a first-class 
education. His whole success may be 
summed up in three words — work, pluck, 
push! 

United States Senator Joe Brown, of 
Georgia, was twenty years old when he 
learned to read. At thirty-three, he was 
elected to a judgeship, and at thirty-seven 
became Governor. At sixty-eight he was 
a United States Senator. 

Judge John F. Dillon's early life com- 
menced under very unfavorable circum- 
stances. His father was not blessed with 
an abundance of worldly goods, and was 
obliged to labor by the day to support his 
family. The country was new and sparsely 
settled. The Indians had just left, and 
there were no public schools. The only 



n8 How to Achieve Success. 

educational privileges John could avail 
himself of were from itinerant pedagogues, 
who came along occasionally to teach for 
a few weeks at a time. But John had a 
thirst for knowledge, and he made the most 
of his opportunities and applied himself 
with a will that knew no defeat. He 
studied medicine with a resident physician, 
and entered upon the practice. His phys- 
ical powers were unequal to the hardship 
of riding over trackless prairies and bridge- 
less streams in all weathers. He afterward 
"threw his physic to the dogs," and went 
to reading law. At twenty-five he was a 
partner in one of the leading law firms in 
the city. At twenty-seven he was elected 
district judge, and occupied the position 
until he was chosen to the Supreme Court 
of Iowa. This new position he filled until 
appointed United States circuit judge of 
the eighth judicial circuit, which he re- 
signed to fill a more prominent position, 
and at better compensation, having re- 
ceived an appointment as professor in 
Columbia law school, New York City, and 
being chosen as advisory counsel of a large 
railroad corporation. His name had been 
often mentioned for the supreme bench of 
the United States, but the fact that Iowa 
riad already one judge on the supreme 
bench prevented his name being brought 
forward for the place. Besides performing 



How to Achieve Success. 119 

most acceptably the duties of a conscien- 
tious and upright judge for twenty years, 
he found time to compile numerous law 
works, and his publications became stand- 
ard authorities in all the courts. Here is a 
model for every young man to study well. 
No young man has started under greater 
difficulties than did John F. Dillon. Col- 
lege honors and diplomas were not won by 
him to make a boast of. He succeeded 
through his own individual efforts, with 
none of the advantages that thousands of 
rich men's sons enjoy. Young men, do 
not be discouraged; do not give up. If 
you have the fire within you, stir it up — 
make it burn bright, clear, and strong. 
Make it hot. The road is open; the track 
is clear; drive on. Remember, however, 
that it is the concentration of all the pow- 
ers upon a single purpose that wins the 
race. 

Rev. Dr. Joel Hawes worked his way 
through college and through Andover 
theological seminary under very unusual 
difficulties. The day he was graduated at 
the seminary he went upon the stage with 
his boots "pinned up," to hide his stocking- 
less feet, and with his vest buttoned up to 
his chin, that the ladies should not see the 
defects of his shirt-front. The poverty- 
stricken young man was not ashamed to do 
his best, and to do his duty, with such ap- 



120 How to Achieve Success. 

parel as he owned. Such young men make 
their mark, and he made his. He became 
a distinguished divine, and was settled at 
Hartford, Connecticut, for many years. 
He wrote and published numerous works, 
among them his "Lectures to Young 
Men," which had a very extended sale. 
Had he been filled with that exquisite fas- 
tidiousness that makes some young men, 
and perhaps young ladies, so very finical 
that all their thoughts and anxieties are on 
"etiquette," and how to be fashionable, he 
would, like them, have accomplished noth- 
ing. 

A. Kimball, Esq., general superintendent 
of one of the best railroads in the west, 
the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, was 
a New Hampshire boy, who commenced 
railroading as a fireman, and often worked 
the brakes. By his faithful devotion to the 
interests of his employers in whatever po- 
sition he attempted to fill, he developed 
capacity to fill a higher station. Slowly, 
steadily he advanced, step by step, until at 
last he reached the highest round in the 
gift of any railroad corporation. But 
where are the young men who started out 
to seek their fortunes with Mr. Kimball? 
None have reached a higher position. The 
majority have not even been heard from. 
And why not? 

Anna Dickinson won her way by per- 



How to Achieve Success. 121 

sistent and indomitable energy. How- 
many young ladies would like to be hon- 
ored as she has been in the "lecture field?" 
Yet how many would get down on their 
knees in a public street and scrub a side- 
walk, as she did, to earn a quarter that she 
might hear Wendell Phillips lecture. The 
same man who hired Phillips to lecture, 
afterwards engaged Anna Dickinson at 
four hundred dollars a night. 

Archdeacon Kirby says, when he went 
to the Red river, in 1852, he met a little 
barefooted boy, and asked him if he didn't 
want to go to school. He said he did, 
and went. That little Indian boy was after- 
ward known as James Northway, prime 
minister of Manitoba. 

Andrew Carnegie, of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, who is at the head of the largest and 
most extensive steel-rail works in this 
country, was a poor boy from Scotland. 
He gave his native town a handsome li- 
brary building, and tendered two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars to the city of 
Pittsburg for a free library. 

The late William E. Dodge, of New 
York City, commenced his business career 
at the lowest round of the ladder, as a clerk, 
on a salary of fifty dollars a year. He even 
saved a portion of that, and aftepwards 
commenced business for himself with no 
other capital than what he had saved yearly 



122 How to Achieve Success. 

from his salary. His great liberality and 
munificent gifts to benevolent institutions 
are household words. He died leaving a 
large estate. The secret of his success was 
founded upon the principles laid down in 
this work; and they are, and always will be, 
the secret of every successful young man — 
economy, diligence in business, unswerv- 
ing integrity. 

Young man, do you covet an honored 
position in the world? Would you have 
your name spoken of only "in praise?" 
Then learn the A, B, C's, if you have not 
done so. It is no game of chance; no lot- 
tery. It is the universal law of "endless 
progression," by which the good positions 
are reached. 

Every noble work is at first impossible. — Carlyle. 

Nothing is so hard but search will find it out. — 
Herrick. 

" The heights by great men gained and kept 

Were not attained by sudden flight; 

But they, while their companions slept, 

Were toiling upward in the night." 

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, said this of his 
early life: "My father removed from Ken- 
tucky to Indiana in my eighth year. It 
was a wild region, with many bears and 
other wild animals still in the woods. 
There I grew up. There were some schools 



How to Achieve Success. 123 

— if they might be called schools — but no 
qualifications were required of teachers, 
beyond readin', writing and cipherin' to 
the rule of three. If a stranger, who under- 
stood Latin, happened to sojourn in the 
neighborhood, he was looked upon as a 
wizard. There was absolutely nothing to 
incite anybody to gain an education. Of 
course, when I became of age I did not 
know much. I had not been to school 
since I was employed at farm-work, which 
I continued until I was twenty-two." 

PRESIDENT JOHNSON, THE TAILOR. 

Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, was born in 
North Carolina. His father died when 
Andrew was four years old. At eleven he 
was apprenticed to a tailor. He never at- 
tended school. His wife was his only 
teacher. His shop was on "wheels," and 
moved from place to place. When he had 
finished all the work he could get in one 
place, he moved on. The sign on his 
wagon read, "A. Johnson, Tailor." It is said 
that this sign is still to be seen on a little 
shop in Tennessee, where he last located. 

HIRAM SIBLEY, THE FAMOUS MILLIONAIRE, 
OF WESTERN NEW YORK, 

when he was fifteen years old, left his 
father's farm, in Berkshire county, Massa- 



124 How to Achieve Success. 

chusetts, and began life for himself with 
nothing but his father's blessing. Before 
leaving home he exacted a promise from 
his father not to borrow any of his earn- 
ings — a promise readily given, and accom- 
panied by a sarcastic laugh — whereupon 
young Hiram said he would earn his break- 
fast before he ate it next morning. As 
good as his word, he rose at four o'clock 
and lay in wait for the overseer of a neigh- 
boring mill, and got an engagement to go 
to work immediately, sawing wood at 
twenty cents a cord. While he was busy 
with his first job, one of his neighbors, 
pleased with the boy's industry, engaged 
him to work for him at the same rate. One 
cold, snowy day he went into a shoemak- 
er's shop, and asked permission to sharpen 
his saw, which the shoemaker refused him, 
because he disliked the noise. The lad said 
he could do it without making any noise, 
and he placed a wet leather strap on each side 
of his saw to deaden the sound. The shoe- 
maker praised his ingenuity. But, said the 
boy, I can make shoes, too; which he pro- 
ceeded to do, and so successfully that in a 
few months he had fifty men in his employ 
making shoes. Before he was twenty-one 
years old he had mastered five different 
trades, and was in business for himself as 
a manufacturer of carding machines. He 
did much for American telegraphy, and 



How to Achieve Success. 125 

was for eighteen years president of the 
Western Union, building thirteen thou- 
sand miles of telegraph line, and increas- 
ing the value of the property from two hun- 
dred and twenty thousand to forty-eight 
million dollars. His wealth was reckoned 
at seven or eight millions, and he stood at 
the head of the greatest seed business in 
the world, for which and its connected 
branches he built a store-house in Chicago, 
two hundred and eighty feet long by one 
hundred and eighty-nine feet wide, and 
nine stories high, costing, with its site, 
about one million dollars. He owned the 
largest cultivated farm in the United 
States, in Ford county, Illinois, containing 
forty thousand acres, upon which is a town 
named Sibley, of nine hundred inhabitants 
of various nationalities, and mostly his em- 
ployes. Mr. Sibley expended more than a 
million and a half dollars in charitable and 
educational works, among other things 
having founded and endowed the Sibley 
College of Mechanical Arts of Cornell Uni- 
versity, at Ithaca, New York, where not 
less than five hundred and seventy-three 
young men received an education through 
his generosity. Mr. Sibley is a grand illus- 
tration of what can be accomplished by 
indomitable energy, perseverance, and 
honesty. 



126 How to Achieve Success. 

A PLUCKY BOY. 

Some fifty years ago there resided at 
Louisville, Ky.,a gentleman who, after hav- 
ing secured a competence, had the misfor- 
tune of seeing it all swept away in a night. 
His son, a lad of thirteen years, whom we 
will call James, realizing his father's unfor- 
tunate circumstances, was anxious to re- 
lieve him of some of his burdens, and 
sought for work to help support his mother 
and sister, but could not find anything to do 
in Louisville. Going down to the steam- 
boat-landing, he found a steamer on the 
eve of departure for St. Louis. He en- 
gaged passage, paying his fare by "working 
his way." In due time the steamer reached 
its destination. James walked the "ga g- 
plank," brave as the bravest — without a 
tremor — hatless, shoeless, penniless, friend- 
less — a stranger in a strange city. His 
forlorn condition could not fail to attract 
the attention of the "lookers-on," and if 
they did not express it audibly, they no 
doubt thought that "there comes another 
candidate for the poor-house or the State's 
prison." But appearances are often mis- 
leading. There was no poor blood in 
James's veins. A braver heart never beat 
inside of a boy's breast. If a lad ever had 
the "blues," certainly this lonely situation 
was enough to bring them on. However, 



How to Achieve Success. 127 

instead of sitting down on the pier to weep 
and bewail his unhappy lot, waiting for 
something to turn up, he was up and off 
hunting an honest job. What he wanted 
was to earn his bread; no charity for him. 
He was bristling all over with alertness for 
something to do; ready to take hold of the 
first thing that presented itself. There was 
no one to intercede in his behalf. He was 
without a "character." His record still lay 
in the future, and would be what he made 
it. Situations were not easy to find for a 
boy in James's plight. The only opening 
he could find was at peddling apples, but 
the difficulty was to get credit for a basket- 
ful to start with. A good, honest counte- 
nance secured the apples. No doubt he felt 
proud of his success. His whole soul was 
in his business. He honored his calling by 
his "square dealing." There were no "tricks 
in trade" with him, palming off wormy 
apples for good ones. His gentlemanly 
ways won for him friends wherever he 
went. People would buy their apples of 
the "poor boy" to help him along. But 
the "apple boy" had too much talent for 
the business; the apple trade was not large 
enough to absorb it all; it would crop out. 
Business men are not slow to recognize 
talent. First-class talent is always in de- 
mand; never below par. A large mercan- 
tile house had their eye on the "apple-boy." 



128 How to Achieve Success. 

They had been watching his way of doing 
business. Young men who aspire to good 
situations often fail to get them because 
somebody has been watching them to find 
out their habits. But our young hero 
stood the test. A good situation was of- 
fered him, which he gladly accepted. The 
firm saw he was fond of books, and they 
secured for him the use of a good library. 
Works upon mechanics and engineering 
were his favorites. He had a passion for 
machinery — to see it in motion. He was 
not afraid to ask the "whys and the where- 
fores" of this and that wheel and that gear. 
Engineers found in him an apt scholar, 
anxious to learn, and they were equally 
pleased to explain every part of an engine 
to his entire satisfaction. In due time 
James was given a clerkship on a steam- 
boat. Here was a grand opportunity to learn 
all about the machinery of the boat, and 
study navigation at the same time. He 
never was idle. When "off duty," he was 
learning the river — its channel, its sand- 
bars, the cross-currents, and all the hin- 
drances to free navigation from St. Louis 
to the Gulf. The oldest pilots at the 
"wheel" were not better posted in steam- 
boating on the Mississippi. James's next 
step was "boat building." This led to a 
more important line of business. There 
were no adequate means of saving a boat 



How to Achieve Success. 129 

or its cargo, and if any accident befell it, it 
went to the bottom of the river. James 
saw here an undertaking of no small mag- 
nitude. He organized a "wrecking com- 
pany." Boats were frequently wrecked by 
running on to "snags," or were swamped 
or stranded on some newly-formed sand- 
bar, and boat and cargo were then at the 
mercy of the elements and the river 
"pirates." Millions of dollars worth of 
property was in peril every moment it re- 
mained afloat. The wrecking business 
grew to be one of great magnitude, and 
was reduced to a perfect system. A tele- 
gram was all that was necessary to have a 
"wrecking-boat," with all its appliances — 
crew, divers, and all — ready to "set sail" at 
once for the scene of disaster. It required 
a great outlay of capital, but it paid the 
company, the shippers, and the under- 
writers. 

GUN-BOATS. 

During the war the government wanted 
a fleet of gun-boats on the Mississippi river, 
in the quickest time possible. James was 
the lowest bidder, and secured the contract. 
Although the timber was to be cut from the 
woods, the coal and iron ore to be dug out 
of the mountains, yet, in the almost incred- 
ibly short space of sixty-five days from the 



130 How to Achieve Success. 

day of signing the contract, the gun-boats 
were ready for service. 

THE GREAT UNDERTAKING. 

New Orleans merchants were asking 
Congress to make the Mississippi river 
navigable so that the largest ocean steam- 
ers might enter their port — to deepen the 
channel at the mouth of the river. It met 
with great opposition, for various reasons. 
The cost, in the first place, was very great; 
then there was the uncertainty of keeping 
the channel open even if all the obstruc- 
tions were removed. Some were bitterly 
opposed to spending the public money on 
western rivers, simply to give unscrupulous 
contractors something to do — a fat job. 
But our hero was ready for the occasion. 
He submitted his plans to Congress. It 
would cost three million dollars to make a 
channel deep enough to float ships drawing 
twenty-eight feet of water. The opposition 
was great, but our hero was greater than 
the opposition. He would take the con- 
tract at his figures, and wait for his pay 
until finished and accepted by Congress. 
They were very willing to enter into such 
a contract, as the risk was all on one side — 
on the contractor. The work was done; 
the contractor got his money. The jetty 
system is a success, piling up the mighty 



How to Achieve Success. 131 

floods in heaps so that the great ships of all 
nations can come and go at pleasure. 

THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE. 

The people of St. Louis wanted a bridge 
across the Mississippi river to the Illinois 
shore. Our hero, James, drafted a plan 
for a bridge. The old engineers who ex- 
amined it, condemned it as being utterly 
impracticable. In spite of the opinions of 
these "wiseacres," the bridge was built ac- 
cording to the plan. It was one of the 
greatest undertakings ever attempted on 
this continent. Down through the quick- 
sands, steamboat wrecks, and snags, one 
caisson was sunk one hundred and twenty 
feet before reaching the bed rock — one 
of the most formidable and perilous under- 
takings imaginable. Deadly gases filled 
the shaft, requiring fresh air to be pumped 
into it constantly, so that the work could 
go on; and the workmen could not remain 
in the shaft but a short time before they 
had to be hoisted up to the fresh air above 
ground. Even with the utmost precaution, 
some were overcome, and died from the 
inhalation of the poisonous gases. Day 
and night, for months, without cessation, 
the work went on, until the bridge was 
completed. It cost ten millions of dollars. 
It is a grand highway of the nation, and it 
will remain so for centuries to come — a 



132 How to Achieve Success. 

monument of American talent, American 
genius; one which every true American can 
feel proud to look upon — a most magnifi- 
cent piece of engineering skill. Well may 
St. Louis people "brag" over their bridge, 
and of James, the "apple-boy," by whose 
creative genius it spans the river ninety 
feet above the floods — the boy whom pov- 
erty compelled to leave his father's house 
and to seek his fortune among strangers. It 
is a splendid monument to that "apple- 
boy," whose name is better known to the 
people of St. Louis as Hon. James B. Eads. 
We have told his story for the special 
purpose of showing what one man has ac- 
complished for himself and for the good of 
the public and the world — a man who 
started as low down as any one who reads 
this paragraph. It is a lesson that every 
young man may study to his profit. 

The nerve that never relaxes, the eye that never 
blanches, the thought that never wanders— these 
are the masters of victory. — Burke. 



How to Achieve Success. 133 



WHAT BRINGS HAPPINESS. 

HAPPINESS VERSUS GOLD. 

Riches, for the most part, are hurtful to those 
that possess them. — Plutarch. 

A mask of gold hides all deformities. — Decker. 

Ah ! if the rich were rich as the poor fancy 
riches. — Emerson. 

Perhaps there never was a greater mis- 
take made, and one that will never be cor- 
rected in this world, than in supposing that 
wealth necessarily brings happiness; that 
plenty of gold is all a man needs to 
enable him to enjoy unalloyed happiness 
to the end of his days. A greater mistake 
is not possible. The abundant testimony 
of those who possess vast wealth ought to 
be conclusive of the fact. 

The following story is told of Jacob 
Ridgway, a wealthy citizen of Philadelphia, 
who died many years ago, leaving a for- 
tune of five or six million dollars: 

" 'Mr. Ridgway,' said a young man with 
whom the millionaire was conversing, 'you 
are more to be envied than any other gen- 
tleman I know.' 

" 'Why so?' responded Mr. Ridgway. 'I 
am not aware of any cause for which I 
should be particularly envied.' 

" 'What, sir!' exclaimed the young man 
in astonishment; 'why, you are a million- 



134 How to Achieve Success. 

aire. Think of the thousands your income 
brings you every month/ 

" 'Well, what of that?' replied Mr. Ridg- 
way; 'all I get out of it is my victuals and 
clothes, and I cannot eat more than one 
man's allowance, or wear more than one 
suit at a time. Pray, can you not do as 
much?' 

" 'Ah! but,' said the youth, 'think of 
the hundreds of fine houses you own, and 
the rentals they bring to you.' 

" 'What better am I off for that?' replied 
the rich man. 'I can live in only one house 
at a time. As for the money I receive for 
rents, why, I can't eat it or wear it. I can 
only use it to buy other houses for other 
people to live in; they are the beneficiaries, 
not I.' 

" 'But you can buy splendid furniture 
and costly pictures, fine carriages and 
horses; in fact, anything you desire.' 

" 'And after I have bought them,' re- 
sponded Mr. Ridgway, 'what then? I can 
only look at the furniture and pictures, and 
the poorest man, who is not blind, can do 
the same. I can ride no easier in a fine 
carriage than you can in an omnibus for 
five cents, and you are without the trouble 
of attending to drivers, footmen, and 
hostlers; and as to anything I desire, I can 
tell you, young man, the less we desire in 
this world the happier we shall be. All my 



How to Achieve Success. 135 

wealth cannot buy me a single day more of 
life; cannot procure me power to keep afar 
from the hour of death; and then what will 
it avail, when, in a few short years at most, 
I lie down in the grave and leave it all, 
forever? Young man, you have no cause 
to envy me.' " 

A few months ago a millionaire died, 
and the first question asked was, "How 
much money did he leave?" The answer 
was, "He left all." "Burial-robes have no 
pockets." 

ONE WEALTHY LADY'S EXPERIENCE. 

Mrs. Hooper writes of a lady residing in 
Paris, describing her under a disguised 
name, but none other than Mrs. John 
Mackay, the wife of a California million- 
aire. She gives numerous instances of how 
Mrs. Mackay was annoyed as soon as her 
great wealth and her residence were known 
in that city. She received a great many 
letters and numerous calls from professional 
beggars and impostors. We quote a few 
of the most amusing and barefaced imposi- 
tions attempted: A penniless Spaniard 
wanted to return to his home in Cuba, and 
begged for one thousand dollars to buy an 
outfit for himself. A Frenchman wrote 
that he was in desperate need of ten thou- 
sand dollars, and if he didn't get it imme- 
diately he would drown himself in the 



136 How to Achieve Success. 

Seine, or jump off the Arc de Triomphe. A 
woman must have five thousand dollars or 
she would be driven to a life of shame. An 
English woman asked for only one hun- 
dred thousand dollars to redeem an estate 
in England, so that she and her brother 
could live in affluence the remainder of 
their days. A lover had given his be- 
trothed sixty thousand dollars worth of 
jewelry, and the bill had become due, and 
he wanted to borrow that amount for a 
short time. Mrs. Mackay was equal to 
the occasion, and advised the lover to go 
to his lady-love and explain the situation of 
his finances. He departed promptly. A 
pretended South American consul repre- 
sented that he was commissioned by a 
friend, who was worth eight million dollars, 
to select a lady for a wife, and he under- 
stood that Mrs. Mackay had an unmarried 
sister and he would condescend to recom- 
mend her to become the countess of his 
rich friend. An American lady was in deep 
distress; all her furniture had been seized 
and her children were starving, and she 
was fainting for the want of food. Mrs. 
Mackay gave her quite a large sum, and 
while out for a drive the next day, she met 
the lady riding in great style, with a new 
bonnet, six-button gloves, etc. At first the 
tales of woe affected Mrs. Mackay so that 
she often cried herself to sleep, and in her 



How to Achieve Success. 137 

dreams she would see these unfortunates 
drowning, or jumping off from some dizzy- 
height, to be dashed to atoms. She soon 
learned that nearly every applicant was a 
professional impostor. 

Rich people have more trials and annoy- 
ances, and often suffer more, than a man 
who labors for his daily bread. Wealth 
does not secure unalloyed happiness. It is 
the cause of much unhappiness. It is said 
that there are as many disadvantages on 
the side of wealth as there are on the side 
of poverty. 

"poor Richard's" advice. 

"There are two ways of being happy — 
we may either diminish our wants or aug- 
ment our means — either will do, the result 
is the same; and it is for each man to de- 
cide for himself, and do that which hap- 
pens to be the easier. If you are idle, or 
sick, or poor, however hard it may be for 
you to diminish your wants, it will be harder 
to augment your means. If you are active 
and prosperous, young and in good health, 
it may be easier for you to augment your 
means than to diminish your wants, and if 
you are wise you will do both at the same 
time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or 
well; and, if you are very wise, you will do 
both in such a way as to augment the gen- 



138 How to Achieve Success. 

eral happiness of society." — Benjamin 
Franklin. 

Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold ! 

Bright and yellow, hard and cold, 

Molten, graven, hammered, and rolled; 

Heavy to get and light to hold; 

Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold, 

Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled; 

Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old 

To the very verge of the church-yard mould; 

Price of many a crime untold; 

Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold ! 

Good or bad a thousand fold! 

How widely its agencies vary — 

To save— to ruin— to curse — to bless — 

As even its minted coins express, 

Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess, 

And now of a blood} 7 Mary. 

— Thomas Hood. 

If all were rich, gold would be penniless. — 
Bailey. 



How to Achieve Success. 139 

INDULGENCE OF APPETITE. 

RUINED BY WHISKY. 

Though the mills of God grind slowly, 

Yet they grind exceeding small; 
Though with patience he stands waiting, 
With exactness grinds he all. 

— Longfellow. 
Drunkenness is nothing else but a voluntary 
madness. — Seneca . 

There is scarcely a crime before me that is not, 
directly or indirectly, caused by strong drink. — 
Judge Coleridge. 

The evils of drunkenness cannot be painted any 
blacker than they are. — Colonel Higginson. 

"The appetite for strong drink in man 
has spoiled the lives of more women, 
ruined more hopes for them, scattered more 
fortunes for them, brought to them more 
sorrow, shame, and hardship than any 
other evil. The country numbers tens — 
nay, hundreds — of thousands of women 
who are widows to-day and sit in hopeless 
weeds, because their husbands have been 
slain by strong drink. There are thou- 
sands of homes scattered over the land in 
which wives live lives of torture, going 
through all the changes of suffering that 
lie between the extremes of fear and de- 
spair, because those whom they hold dear 
love wine better than they do the women 
they have sworn to cherish. There are 
women by thousands who dread to hear at 



140 How to Achieve Success. 

the door the step that once thrilled them 
with pleasure, because that step has taken 
to reel under the influence of the seduc- 
tive poison. There are women groaning 
with pain, while we write these words, 
from bruises and brutalities inflicted by 
husbands made mad by drink. There can 
be no exaggeration in any statements in 
regard to this matter, because no human 
imagination can create anything worse 
than the truth, and no pen is capable of 
portraying the truth. The sorrows and 
horrors of a wife with a drunken husband, 
or a mother with a drunken son, are as 
near the realization of hell as can be 
reached, at least in this world. The shame, 
the indignation, the sorrow, and the sense 
of disgrace for herself and her children; 
the poverty, and not infrequently the beg- 
gary, the fear, and the fact of violence; the 
lingering, life-long struggle and despair of 
countless women with drunken husbands, 
are enough to make all women curse wine 
and unite to oppose it everywhere, as the 
worst enemy of their sex." 

About twenty-five years ago a young 
man with a good common-school educa- 
tion left his Vermont home and went to 
Davenport. He learned a good trade, and 
was steady and economical in his habits. 
His father sent him a few thousand dol- 
lars to become a member of a firm — to be 



How to Achieve Success. 141 

a business man. He laid aside his poor 
apparel and dressed in first-class style. Un- 
acquainted with the office work, and not 
having a faculty for soliciting outside busi- 
ness, there was little for him to do but 
stand as a figure-head. Too proud to go 
to work in the department he did under- 
stand, he became "a gentleman at large." 
The business was a failure. The war broke 
out; he obtained a clerkship in the quarter- 
master's department. The sanitary com- 
mission of St. Louis, Missouri, wanted 
funds to carry on their work. A lottery 
was resorted to in order to raise the funds. 
He bought a ticket. It drew for him five 
thousand dollars cash. His father died, 
and more money came to him from the es- 
tate. He married, and shortly after the wed- 
ding he invited a friend who also had just 
married to spend an evening with him. He 
brought out the wedding-cake and a bottle 
of wine. They enjoyed themselves alone, 
eating and drinking. The hour to sep- 
arate arrived, when the guest said, 
"George, now we cannot afford this." It 
did not please him. He was angry, and 
replied, "I can drink or let it alone, as I 
please." It was their last meeting as 
friends. The war closed, and other busi- 
ness was obtained. Friends became his 
bondsmen. They had to make up deficien- 
cies, and he was soon out of business. The 



142 How to Achieve Success. 

habit of drink was now his master. His 
business and friends vanished, yet he still 
continued to drink. The last time we saw 
him was early one morning, and he was 
entering the rear of one of the lowest grog- 
geries on Front street, a place we would 
have been afraid to enter at the front door, 
even at noon-time. When all was gone — 
money, reputation, credit, and the last 
friend — he, in hopeless despair of reclama- 
tion, leaped into the unknown future. Re- 
tiring to a solitary place, he sat down, and 
placing a revolver to his temple, the bullet 
entered his brain, and his soul sped on its 
journey. Twenty-five thousand dollars in 
money and his wife, friends, reputation — 
all went to satisfy the demon of drink. He 
died in the very prime of manhood. This 
was a young man who could "drink or let 
it alone." 

Even in the light of this terrible example 
there were young men who saw the begin- 
ning and the end of this sad wreck, yet 
followed the same track, step by step, and 
are now also lying in the same cemetery. 
There are "more to follow." The spider's 
web that a breath would sunder, has been, 
and is, weaving a net — a cord, that will 
become like a giant chain and will hold 
them like a vise to the last. 

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every 
day, and at last we cannot break it. — Horace Mann. 



How to Achieve Success. 143 

We stood upon one of the bluffs that line 
the shore of the "Father of Waters/' one 
beautiful June day, just before the sun had 
dropped behind the western horizon, and 
watched one of those grand floating pal- 
aces gliding down stream, freighted with 
human life. The passengers were happy 
in the enjoyment of a voyage wherein all 
was delightful, and indulged anticipations 
of its happy termination, and of the glad 
welcome awaiting them from loving 
friends, far away. But hark! a fearful 
crash is heard. Screams of alarm and ter- 
ror break the stillness of that quiet hour! 
We look for the floating palace; it is sink- 
ing, and passengers are leaping overboard, 
or climbing to the upper deck. The river 
is strewn with broken planks and freight. 
The pilot has missed his course just a lit- 
tle, and discovered it too late, and the boat 
has struck a pier, cutting a broad slice off 
from stem to stern, carrying with it one of 
her wheels and breaking all connection 
with the steering apparatus. The boat is 
left to the mercy of the current, which is 
rapidly sweeping her down stream, and 
she is swiftly sinking. In less than five 
minutes the magnificent palace has gone to 
pieces and rests on the bed of the river. 
At the stern, a man, a criminal in the hands 
of the law, and on the way to prison, has 
been chained. While the passengers are 



144 How to Achieve Success. 

fleeing for safety to the upper deck he is 
fast. The waters gather about his feet as 
the boat is sinking. He cannot break the 
chain; the iron bolt will not give way. He 
struggles in his terror; in his desperation 
he pulls hard to break away from his fast- 
enings. The chain he cannot break. He 
cries for help, "Oh, save me! help! help!" 
There are none to help; no one could help. 
In his agony, in his despair, crying for help, 
the waters close over his head and he goes 
to the bottom, chained fast. How terrible 
are the final consequences of the slightest 
departure from the pathway of virtue. 
How easily could the first step toward the 
final catastrophe have been avoided. The 
demon of drink weaves a web around the 
feet of its devotees so quietly and silently, 
that the poor victim knows it not until he 
arrives at the verge of the awful abyss 
which yawns to receive him. In his horror 
he awakes for a moment to behold the ter- 
rible fate that is looking him squarely, 
sternly in the face, and in his desperation 
he makes one mighty struggle to break 
the bonds — the iron bonds — that have 
bound him, but the struggle is in vain. 
Once a prattling child, a bright-eyed boy, 
who so often had nestled on a fond 
mother's lap; into whose bright face that 
mother had so often looked, while she cher- 
ished the hope that he would lead her 



How to Achieve Success. 145 

gently down the declining years of her life, 
as she was leading him so lovingly, so 
gently, up to his years of strength — to 
manhood — to fill an honored place in the 
ranks of the good and true. How terrible 
the revelation! Swept away forever! And 
she mourns over the grave of her fond 
hopes, buried beyond recovery, and dark- 
ness gathers around her lonely door. 
Vainly she listens for the footsteps that 
come not — looking for and welcoming the 
grim messenger that will bear her to a gen- 
tle resting-place, where unwelcome scenes 
and disappointed hopes will be forgotten. 

Young man, where do you stand? Are 
your feet in the meshes of the web of in- 
temperance? 

A young man was found drowned in the 
Mersey river, England. On a paper in his 
pocket was written, "A wasted life. Do 
not ask anything about me. Drink was 
the cause. Let me die; let me rot." 
Within a week the coroner received 
over two hundred letters from fathers 
and mothers, all over England, ask- 
ing for a description of that young 
man. Each of those two hundred homes 
had been made sad by the intelligence of 
one young man's untimely death, and the 
apprehension that he might be the son 
missing from that home. Two hundred 
homes in mourning over an absent son, 



146 How to Achieve Success. 

and hearts made to bleed afresh because no 
tidings of their missing son came back to 
them. That demon that lurks in the 
whisky-bottle mantles millions of homes 
in the deepest gloom. 

"WANTED A BOY TO ATTEND BAR." 

We have often seen in the newspapers 
notices similar to this, and one of the re- 
quirements often added thereto was, that 
the applicant must not use liquor. Sober 
men, yes, temperance men, or boys, only, 
are wanted to deal out the soul-destroying 
poison. Here is a temperance lecture from 
the drunkard-makers themselves. Why is 
it that saloon-keepers and liquor-sellers de- 
sire total-abstinence-men as their em- 
ployes? If liquor is of any benefit to men 
in other employments, why is it not bene- 
ficial to him who deals it out? The seller 
of liquor knows full well the value of tem- 
perance, when practiced by those he em- 
ploys and trusts; and also the curse it 
brings upon those who are addicted to its 
use. 

Mr. Lill, the well-known Chicago 
brewer, who was burned out at the time of 
the great fire, was afterwards asked if he 
intended to rebuild. He replied, "No; I 
have seen all I care to see of the business/' 
"But what will the people do for want of 
Lill's ale?" they asked. His answer was, 
"Go without it; it will be better for them." 



How to Achieve Success. 147 

Jay Gould, the greatest railroad mag- 
nate in the world, never used liquors of any 
kind, or tobacco in any form. The man 
who could so manipulate financial affairs 
as to make three million dollars at one 
grand stroke, kept his head clear from the 
fumes and fogs of liquor and tobacco. 

General Grant, at a banquet given in his 
honor in Chicago, turned his glass bottom 
side up, and kept it so. He did not use 
liquors. He told the professors at Girard 
College, in Philadelphia, not to let the stu- 
dents of that institution use tobacco in any 
form. Yet General Grant was an inveter- 
ate smoker. If it is good for a man to 
smoke tobacco, why does he give advice 
against its use? 

The Commander of the Annapolis Naval 
School advises his students not to use to- 
bacco in any form, and says, "No gentle- 
man will be seen smoking on the street." 

Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, director of the 
Harvard gymnasium, says that of the large 
number of students he has examined, at 
least one-half suffer to a considerable, and 
in many cases to an alarming extent, from 
palpitation and other affections of the 
heart, caused by excessive cigarette smok- 
ing, and by drinking strong coffee. 

P. T. Barnum, the "greatest showman 
on earth," was congratulated by a friend 
as being "just as hale and hearty as he was 



148 How to Achieve Success. 

ten years before." Mr. Barnum replied, "I 
ought not to be, my dear sir. I am an old 
man. I'm seventy, though you'd hardly 
believe it. But I gave up rum and tobacco 
years ago. I haven't smoked a cigar for 
eighteen years, nor have I tasted a drop of 
liquor for many more years. That has 
kept me young and hearty." 

TEMPERANCE. 

One of the best and strongest arguments 
against the use of liquors or stimulants of 
any kind, is the fact that trainers of prize- 
fighters, teachers of the science of mauling 
with the fists, in order to bring out full mus- 
cular development and power of endurance, 
require their students to abstain from the 
use of liquors or stimulants of any kind. 
Even coffee and tobacco are forbidden, but 
occasionally a cup of weak black tea is al- 
lowed. The trainers of young men for 
rowing matches impose the same restric- 
tions upon their pupils. If liquor is good 
for the system, if it gives strength and pow- 
ers of endurance, why do these professors 
of the "manly art" forbid its use? 

Dr. Mark Hopkins tells of a mother who 
sent four sons into the world to do for 
themselves, taking from each of them, as 
he went, a pledge not to use intoxicating 
drinks, profane language, or tobacco be- 
fore he was twenty-one years of age. At 



How to Achieve Success. 149 

sixty-five to seventy-five years of age, only 
one of them had had a sick day, all were 
honored men, and not one of them was 
worth less than a million dollars. 

TOBACCO AS VILE AS WHISKY. 

Whisky-drinking is a terrible evil — a 
curse — and the use of tobacco is but one 
step behind, on the road to ruin. A young 
man commences with the cigar. Smoking 
creates thirst; but he is a fashionable young 
man — "no vile whisky for him; wine is the 
only thing fit to drink." Yes, but we can 
right here tell a sad tale of a young man 
(now dead), who went from a glass of wine 
down — down to the lowest den, to quench 
his burning thirst with "forty-rod" whisky. 
It was the first glass of wine that made him 
a drunkard. It is the first glass of liquor 
that makes any man a drunkard. Cigars 
and wine generally keep close company. 

A young man of Queens county, New 
York, the only heir of three hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, which was left him 
by his father, was declared incompetent 
and of unsound mind — a mental weakness 
attributed to the excessive use of tobacco. 

"tobacco does not hurt me." 

"Within half a century," said Dr. Dio 
Lewis, "no young man addicted to the use 
of tobacco has graduated at the head of 



150 How to Achieve Success. 

his class in Harvard College, though five 
out of six of the students have used it. The 
chances, you see, were five in six that a 
smoker would graduate at the head of his 
class if tobacco did no harm. But during 
half a century not one victim of tobacco 
was able to come out ahead." 

DELMONICOS, 

the famous restaurateurs, of New York 
City, and a brother in Paris, are said to 
have died of nicotine poisoning, arising 
from excessive indulgence in smoking. 
One died of "smoker's cancer." 

Senator Hill, of Georgia, died of cancer 
of the tongue, caused by cigar-smoking. 

To us, the breath of a man who uses 
liquor is not worse than that of the man 
who is constantly breathing out the vile, 
sickening, nauseating, and deadly emana- 
tions of the fumes of some cigar or vil- 
lainous old pipe, and whose person pre- 
sents a disgusting appearance. We pity 
the wife of a drunkard, and none the less 
the wife of an inveterate tobacco-user. 
There are ladies in many cities, at whose 
homes no tobacco-user can find a welcome. 

We are glad to know that no minister 
who uses tobacco in any form, can now 
enter the Methodist pulpit in Iowa. To- 
bacco-users are precisely on the same 
ground that whisky-drinkers occupy. 



How to Achieve Success. 151 

Each acknowledges full}' the use to be a 
had habit, and injurious, and wishes that 
he could leave off, and would if he could. 
When you ask a man to leave off using 
tobacco, and he replies that he can't, tell 
him it is because he will not — that is all. 

I will be a slave to no habit; therefore farewell 
tobacco. — Hosea Ballon. 

How can temperance reformers expect 
to reform the drunkards when the habit of 
using tobacco has coiled around them a 
chain so tight and strong that they are 
powerless to sunder it? Then tobacco is 
the greater tyrant — the greater evil. "Oh, 
I shall die if I leave off." Die then, we 
say, the sooner the better, though we can- 
not find in the Bible any place for them 
in heaven, for "no drunkards" can enter, 
nor anything "that is filthy." If that does 
not mean tobacco-users, we cannot read 
correctly. "Oh, my doctor says I ought to 
use it." Yes, doctors give prussic acid and 
other deadly poisons. Doctors use it! Yes, 
they use whisky, too. Some doctors have 
neither sense nor reason. We know one 
who claims he has "cut up people by the 
score, and never found a soul, and didn't 
believe there was any." Yet some of the 
medical talent say that "tobacco kills as 
many people as whisky." We believe they 



152 How to Achieve Success. 

are alike terrible curses to our land, and 
the causes of a very large proportion of the 
woes human flesh is heir to. 

We recently visited that great, noble in- 
stitution, Cooper Institute, New York City, 
where hundreds of young men and women 
are enjoying its liberal advantages. Its 
varied scientific courses, the weekly lec- 
tures, and its great library, are all free. 
The annual cost to Mr. Cooper was fifty- 
six thousand dollars. Yet with all his lib- 
erality he was, in one particular, a perfect 
despot, a tyrant. He hated tobacco. At 
every turn is a notice which reads, "The 
use of tobacco in this building, in any form, 
is strictly forbidden." 

We also visited the art museum in Cen- 
tral Park, where it would require weeks to 
examine all the rare curiosities, the relics 
of past ages, and the magnificent paintings. 
The building and the arrangement for dis- 
playing everything to the best advantage, 
seemed to us a model of perfection, only 
marred by scores of notices that stared out 
at every turn. These were notices to to- 
bacco-squirters that if caught spitting upon 
the floor the police would at once arrest 
them and walk them out of the museum. 
The police were there watching for the 
man who dared to "spit on the floor." 

We are glad to see that railroad com- 
panies, too, are everywhere becoming dis- 



How to Achieve Success. 153 

gusted with tobacco-users, and are posting 
prohibitory notices. 

Of tobacco-users, J. B. T. Marsh, in the 
Sunday-School Times, says: "I don't be- 
lieve, other things being equal, there is any 
other class of men who show such a disre- 
gard in public for other people's comfort as 
tobacco-users do. I don't mean the chew- 
ers who spit in country churches and leave 
their filthy puddles on car floors. They're 
hogs. A man would be considered a rowdy 
or a boor who should wilfully spatter mud on 
the clothing of a lady as she passed him on 
the sidewalk; but a lady to whom tobacco 
fumes are more offensive than mud, can 
hardly walk the streets in these days with- 
out men, who call themselves gentlemen — 
and who are gentlemen in most other re- 
spects — blowing their cigar-smoke into her 
face at almost every step. Smokers drive 
non-smokers out of the gentlemen's cabins 
on the ferry-boats, and gentlemen's wait- 
ing-rooms in railway stations, monopoliz- 
ing these public rooms as coolly as if they 
only had any rights in them. I can't ex- 
plain such phenomena, except on the 
theory that tobacco befogs the moral sense 
and makes men specially selfish." 

A party of a dozen Yale boys decoyed 
that eccentric individual styling himself 
"General Daniel Pratt, the great American 
traveler," to a small dormitory room, and 



154 How to Achieve Success. 

mounted him on a chair for a speech; then 
they each took out a pipe, and in a few- 
moments the dusky room seemed like a 
chimney of Tartarus. At last the General 
sneezed, checked his eloquence abruptly, 
and exclaimed, "Gentlemen, your speaker 
isn't a ham." 

Some young men, seeking for a position, 
seem to think it a mark of dignity to enter 
an office puffing a freshly-lighted cigar. 
Bear in mind this, that possibly the gentle- 
man you may wish to see may not be a 
smoker or a ham. 






How to Achieve Success. 155 



CIGAR-STUBS AND OPIUM. 

THE DELECTABLE INGREDIENTS OF THE 
MODERN CIGARETTE A GROWING VICE. 

"I ran across a cigarette-factory the 
other day. Whew! I wouldn't write — or 
rather, wouldn't dare print — what I saw. 
Dirty butts of cigars, reeking with the filth 
of the muddy streets, are the cleanest and 
nicest of the material used in constructing 
these precious roads to ruin. I came down 
town on a Madison avenue car this even- 
ing, and on the tail end there were three 
little chaps, the oldest about fourteen. 
Each smoked a cigarette and was spitting 
his little life away. I ventured to ask if 
they enjoyed the odor. They said they 
did. And the taste? Certainly. On in- 
quiring, I found they had a well-known 
brand of cigarette, noted for its "opium 
soak" and its terrible smell when burning. 
Poor little creatures! They can't last long. 
They were pale and sickly, puny and offen- 
sive. What kind of men will they make? 
Men? They're men already, in their own 
eyes. They and a majority of our little 
lads are full of the slang of the day, up in 
all the catches and abundantly able to hold 
up their end of a conversation. I subse- 
quently saw these three boys in Niblo's 



156 How to Achieve Success. 

Garden. It would have done you good to 
hear them talk. A blind man might rea- 
sonably think he was listening to three old 
men. Nothing was new. They had seen it 
all before, and better done at that. Down 
went the curtain, out went the boys, but 
before they felt the first breath of the fresh 
air from the street, each puny hand held a 
cigarette to the vile-smelling mouth, and 
puff! puff! they sickened everybody in 
their vicinity. This is an old grievance of 
mine, and I don't care to bore you with it, 
but I feel it keenly. 

"Day by day, vice grows stronger. 
There was a time when cigarette-smoking 
was confined almost entirely to Cubans, 
who knew what good tobacco was and 
made their own cigarettes. Gradually the 
habit spread. Dealers followed suit. Mak- 
ers became unscrupulous. Little dirty 
boys were sent out to pick up cigar-stumps. 
Other equally disgusting material was also 
utilized. Opium was made to do duty. 
Cheap paper took the place of rice paper. 
I wish these boys could see the stuff their 
paper is made from! Wouldn't it turn their 
little stomachs? I trow, I trow. The cheap 
paper, the old stumps, the opium, and the 
chemicals used to make them 'strong,' de- 
serve to be shown up. Parents have no in- 
fluence with their sons. Why not? Be- 
cause they smoke cigars or pipes them- 



How to Achieve Success. 157 

selves. The boys charge all the good ad- 
vice they get to their father's desire to 
keep them down. There is but one way to 
deal with American boys. Reason with 
them through their own eyes. If every 
nicotined stomach was made public, if 
every time a fellow died of too much ci- 
garette, the £act was made known, if the 
proud boys could be shown a rag-factory 
and stump-grindery, it seems to me the ci- 
garette business would be wound up very 
soon." — Howard, in the Philadelphia 
Times. 

We heard a young lad of ten or twelve 
years tell his "chum" that, "I smoke ci- 
garettes for catarrh." That cigarettes are 
capital for catarrh, we have the best med- 
ical authority. Read the following: 

smoker's catarrh. 

The British Medical Journal asserts that 
the local effect of tobacco on the mucous 
membrane of the nose, throat, and ears is 
as predisposing to catarrhal diseases as is 
inefficient and insufficient clothing in the 
case of women — the fact being that such 
effect on the mucous membrane of the su- 
perior portion of the respiratory tract, 
causes a more permanent relaxation and 
congestion than any other known agent. 
Therefore, as tobacco depresses the system 



158 How to Achieve Success. 

while it is producing its pleasurable sensa- 
tion, and as it prepares the mucous mem- 
brane to take on catarrhal inflammation 
from even slight exposure to cold, the 
Journal thinks it should require no further 
evidence to show that its use ought to be 
discontinued by every catarrhal patient. 



How to Achieve Success. 159 

WHISKY VS. HOME. 

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN! 

The night was cold and exceedingly un- 
pleasant. The wind was blowing furiously 
from the cold regions of the north. It 
capered with the light snow, sweeping the 
ground clean of its white mantle in places, 
to pile it up in huge drifts somewhere else. 
The hail-like flakes were whirled against 
the exposed window-panes, and rattled on 
the glass like pebble-stones. The doors 
and window-sashes shook, the shutters 
trembled and clattered, while the great 
elms in the yard moaned and sighed as 
they were swayed back and forth by the 
blast. 

Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton had just retired 
from the tea-table to their cosy library, 
which was also the doctor's home office. A 
cheerful fire was burning briskly in the 
open grate — a most welcome and enjoy- 
able sight, as well as a real comfort, on 
that cold winter night. 

Dr. Hamilton had looked over his diary 
of patients, and had come to the conclu- 
sion that they were all doing remarkably 
well — as well as could be expected — and 
that none of them would be likely to be any 
the worse in case he should omit a visit. The 



160 How to Achieve Success. 

fierce and uninviting condition of the ele- 
ments without, and the attractive allure- 
ments within, may have prompted the doc- 
tor in reviewing the hopeful condition of 
his patients on this particular occasion. 

Mrs. Hamilton drew her rocker a little 
closer to the grate, remarking as she did 
so, "It does seem almost impossible to get 
warm." 

Dr. Hamilton took the Evening Journal 
from the table to read the news to his wife. 
Glancing over the local column he noticed 
at the head, in large, black-faced letters, 
the words, "Found Dead." We suppose 
doctors are not specially anxious to read 
obituary notices. However, their profes- 
sion very naturally prompts them to notice 
mortuary records. Their personal interest, 
no doubt, depends in a large degree on 
whose patient is dead. The name of a well- 
known man at the beginning of the notice 
attracted his attention, and he read : 

"Some of our readers will not be sur- 
prised to learn that old Joe Noxx is dead. 
Night-watchman Purcell, on making his 
rounds before light, stumbled over the pros- 
trate form of a man lying on his face in 
the gutter, near the junction of Broadway 
and Commercial alley. The officer at- 
tempted to arouse the man, supposing him 
to be asleep, when, to his horror, he dis- 
covered that the man was dead — frozen 



How to Achieve Success. 161 

stiff. Turning him over, he recognized 
the familiar countenance of old Joe Noxx. 
The coroner was notified as soon as possible, 
and the body was removed to Noxx's home 
— if it could be called such. It was in a 
hovel in what is known as 'Murderer's al- 
ley.' For the benefit of those who do not 
know the origin of this expressive appella- 
tion to the alley, we will say that prior to 
the erection of the great union freight 
depot, the alley was known as 'Commercial 
alley,' and a large jobbing business was 
done there. It was considered the most 
desirable location in the city for wholesale 
trade. But when the great warehouses 
near the union depot were ready for occu- 
pancy all the firms left the alley. The 
buildings were old and destitute of mod- 
ern conveniences for doing business; con- 
sequently they were worthless for jobbing, 
and too isolated for retail business. 

"They were tenantless for several years, 
and it would have been to the credit of our 
city if they had remained empty or had 
been destroyed. We think the owners 
made a grave mistake when they allowed 
them to be occupied as tenements and 
lodging apartments. The alley has become 
a burning disgrace to our city. It has been 
known to the police for a long time as the 
rendezvous and harbor of the most des- 
perate class of criminals that infest our city 



1 62 How to Achieve Success. 

— all the thieves, burglars, highwaymen, 
confidence men, gamblers, rag-pickers, 
organ-grinders, and professional beggars, 
and no one knows the number of unhung 
murderers who are there screened from 
justice. Not unfrequently has the body of 
a dead man been found in that alley by a 
night-watchman. No arrests have ever 
been made, it being impossible to fasten 
suspicion on any one. The victims have 
been invariably strangers, supposed to have 
been decoyed into that miserable place, 
robbed, murdered, and their bodies drag- 
ged out from some one of the numerous 
dens into the alley, to be found by one of 
the guardians of the night. The principal 
reason no arrests have been made is, there 
has been no one to enter complaint. The 
victims could not, for 'dead men tell no 
tales.' 

"The inhabitants there are on the best of 
terms; never tell 'tales about their neigh- 
bors.' None of them would dare to 'peep/ 
even if they were disposed to. It is not a 
safe place for an honest man to visit in open 
day, and is still more dangerous at night. 
Any one known to have five dollars in his 
pocket, going there in broad daylight, 
would be very liable to be enticed into 
some vile den, and sent to the spirit-land by 
the 'Kansas Bender' route. The name is 
expressive, 'Murderer's alley,' and it will 



How to Achieve Success. 163 

• cling to that alley until a fire or an earth- 
quake annihilates its inhabitants. In this 
alley Joe Noxx lived, when death cut short 
the career of that most remarkable charac- 
ter. It appears that at about midnight he 
was turned out of a saloon while intox- 
icated, and in trying to find his way home, 
fell into the gutter and perished from ex- 
posure. The verdict of the coroner's jury 
was in accordance with the facts above 
given. 

''Fifteen years ago there was not a more 
promising young man in the State. Joseph 
Howard Noxx was the rising man of his 
profession. His abilities as a lawyer, and 
especially as an advocate before a jury, 
were unsurpassed by any member of the 
Suffolk bar. We question whether Web- 
ster or Choate, at his age, had a more 
promising future before them than that 
upon which Mr. Noxx was about en- 
tering. His forensic ability was marvelous. 
As a platform speaker he was specially 
gifted. His persuasive eloquence before a 
jury or the court was powerful and con- 
vincing. When it was announced that Joe 
Noxx was to speak, no hall or court-room 
was large enough to hold the crowds that 
flocked to hear him. 

"Under the magic of his oratory his 
audiences were moulded to his will — one 
moment convulsed with laughter, and the 



164 How to Achieve Success. 

next melted to tears. He was a natural 
orator, with a wonderful command of lan- 
guage, and a thorough knowledge of 
human nature, which enabled him to use it 
most effectively. Lured by the tempta- 
tion which is most enticing to the gifted, 
the generous, and the ambitious, he was 
caught in that snare which has taken so 
many brilliant ones — whose meshes the 
great and mighty ones of earth have been 
powerless to break. 

"But to the funeral. A motley crowd 
had already assembled in the alley in front 
of the hovel wherein the dead man was 
lying in his coffin. It took but a glance to 
tell where they belonged. A worse speci- 
men of depraved and fallen humanity we 
never have seen in our travels. The occu- 
pants of that notorious locality, Murderer's 
alley, must have marshaled their entire 
force. Had a delegation been sent from 
State prison, of its most hardened and no- 
torious criminals, it could not have sur- 
passed this company in all that is vile and 
forbidding. Depravity and degradation 
were stamped upon their features. Their 
faces bore unmistakable evidence of their 
true character, written in a language so 
plain that no one could fail of reading it. 
Big, burly-headed men, coarse-featured 
women, whose faces revealed the fiery pas- 
sions that ruled all their actions, and the 



How to Achieve Success. 165 

motives that prompted them. The deep 
scars, the swollen faces, the eyes bleared 
and blood-shot, the bandaged heads, and 
the bruised features, testified of the fierce 
brawls and the bloody encounters in which 
they had been engaged. It was a restless, 
turbulent crowd, 'spoiling for a fight.' 

"They acted as if they had come to see a 
dog-fight, or a rat-killing exhibition, rather 
than quietly, silently, to stand in the sol- 
emn presence of death. They amused 
themselves in low, vulgar jesting, and 
cracking vile jokes. We were permitted 
to enter 'the dead man's late abode in ad- 
vance of this impatient and boisterous mul- 
titude. 

"The building seemed to have been orig- 
inally a stable. It had but a single apart- 
ment, one door, and a window. The in- 
terior was unfinished and unfurnished. The 
only furniture was a dilapidated cook-stove 
'braced up' with bricks. The only sem- 
blance of a bed was a pallet of filthy straw. 
A few rags beside it, looking like remnants 
of a worn-out horse-blanket, may have 
been the only covering there was for the 
sleeper. A few old paper flour-sacks par- 
tially filled with rags from the street, and 
a quantity of 'scrap iron,' completed the 
sum total of the visible effects of the dead 
man. In a remote corner of the room a lad 
of some ten or eleven years was standing, 



1 66 How to Achieve Success. 

with his face to the wall, weeping. The 
coffin was that of a pauper — of the plainest 
kind — simply a pine box painted black, 
without trimmings, and was supported 
above the filth of the floor by blocks of 
wood. The body lay in the coffin in pre- 
cisely the same manner in which it had 
been taken from the gutter, with the dirt in 
which he had died still clinging to his mat- 
ted hair and poverty-stricken apparel. The 
eyelids were rolled back, and the sightless 
eye-balls were fixed in a last ghastly stare, 
exceedingly unpleasant to behold. The 
sight to James (the son) was terrible. 
Those glaring eye-balls gave him such a 
shock that he could not get over it nor 
banish the dreadful sight from his mind. 
They haunted him continually. No doubt 
they will haunt him for a long time and 
trouble him in his dreams. James was the 
only mourner. Neither a friend nor an ac- 
quaintance was there to pay a last tribute 
of respect to the dead, or to sympathize 
with the lonely orphan. There were no 
services; not a word was spoken appro- 
priate to a funeral. The undertaker had 
no tears to shed. They are not accustomed 
or expected to weep at funerals. 

"As soon as the door was opened to 
allow those who wished to see the corpse, 
there was a general stampede from all quar- 
ters and a general struggle to be first 



How to Achieve Success. 167 

to enter. Two policemen were stationed 
at the door to keep order, but their efforts 
were unavailing. They could not hold back 
the mob-like crowd. Hats were 'knocked 
in' and 'knocked off' very promiscuously, 
heads were pummeled, noses smashed, and 
blood flowed freely. It is 'our funeral' and 
the 'cops' can go. Around the open coffin 
whisky was drunk to the peace of the soul 
of the departed. It was more than an hour 
before the undertaker was allowed to fas- 
ten down the coffin-lid. Two stout fellows 
volunteered to carry the coffin to the dray, 
which was the hearse for this occasion. The 
proprietor of that vehicle seated himself 
astride the coffin, refilled his pipe, and 
smoked with apparent satisfaction in hav- 
ing secured the job. When all was ready 
he gave his mule a sharp cut with his whip, 
'and cried out, 'Get up.' 'Hold on; wait for 
the mourners!' The driver brought his 
mule to a stop, and looked back for the 
mourners. The crowd laughed and jeered 
at the joke they had played on him. The 
driver took it good-naturedly, for he did 
not dare to show his displeasure to the 
reckless gang that ruled in Murderer's 
alley. James was at the door; his eyes 
were red and swollen by the flood of scald- 
ing tears which he could not repress. The 
driver, noticing him, said, 'Come along, 
sonny, if you're any 'lation to the old fel- 



1 68 How to Achieve Success. 

low inside this box, and see him daeently 
buried/ James accepted the invitation, 
only too glad to go somewhere, rather than 
to remain there with those hardened 
wretches. The moment he started toward 
the dray it was a signal for those fiends of 
darkness to commence abusing him. They 
tantalized him in every conceivable way. 
They made sport of his tears, joked him on 
a 'first-class funeral,' 'the new-styled 
hearse,' 'why he did not dress up like a 
lirst-class mourner,' 'put on his black kids 
and little crape on his beaver,' 'the old man 
is dead, hush up now.' James sat down on 
the coffin behind the driver. He was thinly 
clad for a long, cold ride. When the dray 
began to move they set up their howling, 
groaning, and screeching, and kept it up 
until it was out of sight. It was a pauper's 
funeral, and the mule-driver hurried the 
animal along over the pavements at a rat- 
tling gait. 

" ' There's a grim one-horse hearse on a jolly round 
trot, 
To the church-yard a pauper is going, I wot; 
The road is rough, and the hearse has no springs, 
And hark to the dirge that the mad driver sings: 
'Rattle his hones over the stones, 
He's only a pauper whom nobody owns.' " 

"Arriving at the potter's field, the coffin 
was slid off the dray and dropped without 
ceremony into the grave. James stopped 



How to Achieve Success. 169 

to see the sexton fill the grave. The dole- 
ful sound that came up from the coffin, as 
the frozen clods were thrown upon it, made 
him shudder and tremble with a nervous 
fear, and he turned away. The sexton 
drove a stake for a head-board, and gave 
James a card with the number of his fa- 
ther's grave. So ended the sad, sad funeral 
of Joseph Howard Noxx. 

"How different would have been the 
scene had Mr. Noxx died when he had 
reached the zenith of his glory. Business 
would have been suspended, the court 
would have adjourned, resolutions of con- 
dolence would have been sent to the family, 
eulogies would have been spoken and 
spread upon the court records, emblems of 
mourning would have been seen upon all 
of our public buildings, stores would have 
been closed, the bells would have rung out 
their saddest notes of mourning, the funeral 
obsequies would have been largely at- 
tended and the procession would have been 
imposing, Mount Auburn would have 
been the resting-place of the dead, instead 
of the narrow lot in potter's field, and, in 
the place of a wooden stake to mark his 
grave, a costly marble shaft would have 
been erected with his many virtues em- 
blazoned upon its tablets to remind the 
beholder of a well-rounded life. 

"Our task is not yet finished. We have 



170 How to Achieve Success. 

a word to say for that homeless, friendless 
orphan boy. Think of the utter loneliness 
that must have come over that boy as he 
turned away from his father's grave to go — 
where? Where could he go? He had no 
home; he dreaded to return to that mis- 
erable hovel; he dreaded to meet the 
roughs who had treated him so shamefully, 
so cruelly, when he left to go to the grave 
of his father. Think of the supreme loneli- 
ness that must have overwhelmed him as 
he turned into Murderer's alley on his way 
back to the wretched place he had so long 
called home. Where else could he go? He 
knew no other home. There was no friend 
to whom he could appeal now. Who 
would listen to his sorrows? What a dis- 
mal place for a boy of his age to stay for a 
night even! How cold and cheerless it 
must have been to him when he entered 
that lonely place! We wonder if he went 
supperless to bed, to that pallet of straw. 
You who are surrounded with all the com- 
forts of a good home, think of that boy suf- 
fering for food — deprived, at this inclement 
season, of every comfort which makes 
your home so pleasant! Is there no one 
who will care for this boy? He is a bright 
and active lad. and can be saved, if looked 
after now; but if he is left there in that vile 
and polluted atmosphere, he will be lost. 
Surely there must be some one who will 



How to Achieve Success. 171 

not let the little fellow die without making 
an effort to save him. We hope 'and pray 
that before the sun shall set to-morrow 
night some good Samaritan will be jour- 
neying to Jericho by the way of Murderer's 
alley." 

When Dr. Hamilton had finished reading 
the account of the funeral, Mrs. Hamilton 
remarked that it was surely a very sad case, 
and it would be too bad if that little fellow 
should freeze, this bitter cold night. Dr. 
Hamilton drew his easy-chair a little nearer 
the open grate, remarking as he did so, that 
"it is only one of a thousand sad cases 
which we read about. You know news- 
paper men are inclined to be sensational, 
and to color things so that the facts will not 
warrant the conclusion to which their re- 
ports often lead. It may be a blessing to 
the little vagabond as well as the com- 
munity if he should freeze, rather than that 
he should grow up to follow in the foot- 
steps of a drunken sot, like his father. No 
doubt he is a little thief. How could he be 
otherwise living in that miserable alley?" 

Mrs. Hamilton said she did not know 
"what would become of poor people this 
winter, if they were out of work, out of 
money, and had only a scanty supply of 
provisions laid in." 

Dr. Hamilton replied, "That is their own 
fault. If people will make fools of them- 



172 How to Achieve Success. 

selves they must expect to reap the fruits 
of their own sowing. The miseries of this 
world, in a great measure, come from 
wasted and willful abuse of opportunities 
which come alike to all. One man takes 
the advantage of his opportunities and acts 
wisely, while another man neglects them 
when they are within his reach. So each 
has his merited reward — the full measure 
of compensation that they are entitled to. 
I am not yet prepared to pour out my sym- 
pathies on the occupants of that notorious 
locality." 

Mrs. Hamilton sat watching the flames 
in the grate as they shot up in many fan- 
tastic forms, and then hurried away, one 
after another, up the chimney. While she 
sat there, musing, her thoughts were car- 
ried back to the interesting reminiscences 
that had been brought to mind by the sight 
of old friends during the day. Still that 
orphan boy could not be banished from her 
thoughts. The cold chills which she had 
suffered from in the early part of the even- 
ing had disappeared, and she dropped into 
a reverie, and did not awake from it until 
Dr. Hamilton reminded her that the hour 
for retiring had come. 

.FIRE, SLEIGH-RIDE, ETC. 

During the night a fire broke out in the 
city mills, and by the falling of the walls 



How to Achieve Success. 173 

outward into the street, several firemen 
were hurt. Before daylight Dr. Hamilton 
had been sent for to attend to the injured 
men. Mrs. Hamilton was up earlier than 
usual. She proposed to take a sleigh-ride 
before breakfast and, incidentally, to visit 
the orphan of whom her husband had read. 
The hostler was ordered to harness "Pet" 
to the sleigh, and see that there was an 
ample supply of robes, as it was a keen, 
frosty morning. Mrs. Hamilton also in- 
structed the cook not to hurry the break- 
fast, as the doctor would not be back un- 
der an hour. Mrs. Hamilton put on extra 
warm wraps and her close-fitting fur hood. 
She told the driver it would not be out of 
their way to drive past the city mills, and 
they could see the ruins. Thirty minutes 
ride brought them to the end of their jour- 
ney. Mrs. Hamilton rapped several times 
on the door of a very humble dwelling, and 
receiving no response, she tried the door, 
and found it was unlocked, and that a sin- 
gle brick held it shut. Pushing the door 
open, she was about to enter, but when she 
saw how dark and forbidding it looked 
within, her courage began to fail her. It 
was only for an instant, for she, having 
come, was unwilling to return without 
going in. This banished her fears, and she 
stepped boldly into the room. Going from 
the bright sunlight, intensified by the re- 



174 How to Achieve Success. 

flection from the snow, it required a 
moment or two for her eyes to adjust them- 
selves to the dim light, and give her a sight 
of the surroundings. The feeble and strag- 
gling rays of light which came through the 
small windows, with all their dirt and the 
elaborate festoons with which the spiders 
had ornamented them, revealed something 
of the smoke-begrimed appearance of 
that uninviting room. A stove in the mid- 
dle of the floor was the first visible piece of 
household furniture. While Mrs. Hamil- 
ton was admiring its dilapidated appearance, 
as a relic, a sudden trembling of the floor 
startled her, for she feared it might be giv- 
ing way. However, before another recur- 
rence of the unpleasant sensation, she was 
able to see what was in the room. She 
noticed a pile of rags in one corner, and 
the form of a youth under them, and rags 
and all were snaking spasmodically, like a 
dog when he is cold. When the mass 
shook, the floor trembled. Mrs. Hamilton 
approached the bed of the sleeper to see 
who he was, but he was so completely en- 
veloped in the rag blankets that no part of 
a human being was to be seen. She called 
repeatedly to the unknown sleeper to 
"wake up," but he heeded not the call. It 
required a good shaking to arouse him. As 
the rags were pushed aside the face of a 
boy appeared, who, after rubbing his eyes 



How to Achieve Success. 175 

so that he could see, was surprised to see a 
lady standing before him. He was all the 
while shaking with the cold, and appeared 
troubled by the unexpected visitor. Mrs. 
Hamilton knew that this was James Noxx, 
the son of the man whose funeral had been 
described. She at once allayed his fears, 
by saying she had come to ask him to take 
a sleigh-ride with her, and if he would go 
he should have a good, warm breakfast. 
This proposition James was very glad to 
accept, the breakfast part of it especially. 
Mrs. Hamilton noticed, before he had 
fairly waked up, that he had in one hand 
a meatless bone, and there were furrows 
down his cheeks which indicated that he 
had cried himself to sleep. From the bone 
he probably obtained all the supper he had 
had the night before. Unwinding the rag 
blankets in which he had rolled himself, he 
was quickly ready for the sleigh-ride. As 
soon as she reached her home Mrs. Ham- 
ilton gave him a seat by the kitchen stove, 
and brought him a cup of hot coffee, and 
when he was thoroughly warmed she had 
him take a bath and put on a good, warm 
suit of clothes that Frank had outgrown. 
The boy she sent into the bath-room did 
not correspond in appearance to the fine- 
looking boy that came out. She would not 
have recognized him or believed it was the 
same boy, had there been any other boy in 



176 How to Achieve Success. 

the house. He was more than good-look- 
ing; he was a handsome lad. The new ap- 
parel, a clean face, and well-brushed hair, 
made a wonderful transformation in his 
appearance. His keen, black eyes, his high 
forehead, and his open countenance, 
showed that he had good parentage and 
good blood. 

Mrs. Hamilton gave him a seat at the 
table by her side. Her husband was so in- 
terested in the morning paper, the partic- 
ulars of the fire, and the patients he had 
been called to see, that the presence of a 
boy at the table occasioned no inquiry. 
Then, it was no uncommon occurrence for 
Mrs. Hamilton to have a boy or girl beside 
her at meal-time. Dr. Hamilton frequently 
remarked that it was one of his wife's "fail- 
ings," to be forever feeding other people's 
hungry children. Mrs. Hamilton always 
accepted his compliments and kept right 
on, making many a poor boy and girl happy 
by the frequent invitations they received 
to dine or sup with "Grandma Hamilton." 
The truth of the matter was, that Dr. Ham- 
ilton was proud of his wife's "failings" as 
he was pleased to designate them. James 
Noxx had never before been permitted to 
sit down to a well-spread table. It was a 
very attractive sight «for him. The elegant 
tableware, the abundanuce of good, whole- 
some food, all so tempting and fragrant, 



How to Achieve Success. 177 

gave him a hearty appetite for his break- 
fast. However, he could eat but little. 
The sudden transition from a hovel, where 
he had endured so much suffering from 
the cruelty of his father, and his almost 
constantly famishing condition, to an ele- 
gant dining-room, at a table "where there 
was enough and to spare," and the kind 
and loving words of Mrs. Hamilton, which 
reminded him so much of his dead mother, 
altogether quite overcame him. It troubled 
him to swallow his food, and in spite of his 
efforts, his eyes would fill with tears, which 
before had been bitter, but which now 
flowed for joy. Mrs. Hamilton saw that 
his heart was troubled, but could not see 
the cause. When breakfast was over she 
led him into the library and had him sit 
down on the sofa with her. She scarcely 
knew how to amuse him, but feeling sure 
that all boys liked to look at pictures, she 
showed him several albums. Turning over 
the leaves of one of them a photograph of 
a group of young ladies was exposed. 
"That is the class in which I graduated," 
Mrs. Hamilton said, and was about to turn 
to the next picture, when the boy said, 
"Stay, let me look. Why, that is my 
mother." "I think not, my boy. That lady 
lives a long way off. She is married now, 
and has a beautiful home of her own." 
James was sure he was right. She asked 



ijS How to Achieve Success. 

him if he remembered hearing his mother's 
name before she was married. James said, 
"Yes; it was Helen Jackson." "Why, that 
was the name of my classmate." Mrs. 
Hamilton asked him if he remembered any- 
thing else about his mother. "Yes; mother 
had a picture just like yours, in an album. 
One day father carried the album off and 
sold it to the saloon-man for whisky. 
Mother cried when she found it was gone. 
She went to the saloon-man and asked him 
for it, but he would not let her have it 
unless she would give him five dollars. 
Mother did not have any money to give 
him, so he kept it. She had a ring, which 
she said was a 'class-ring.' It had a word 
on the outside and mother said it was their 
'class motto/ Then there were some let- 
ters on the inside, 'Mt. and H., and class 
1 8 — .' One day mother did not get up, 
she was so sick. She called me to her bed- 
side and said she wanted me to be a good 
boy and remember what she had taught 
me; if I was a good boy, God would take 
care of me after she was gone, and I should 
go to heaven when I died. Then she cried, 
and it made me cry too. I asked her what 
made her cry so. She said it made her 
feel so bad to think I would not have any 
home nor any one to care for me when she 
was dead. She said if I could only have a 
good home until I was grown up to be a 



How to Achieve Success. 179 

man she would feel satisfied. She wanted 
to give me something to remember her by. 
She took the 'class-ring' out of a little box 
which she carried in her pocket, and said 
that if I took good care of it some day it 
might bring me friends. She told me to 
be very careful of it, for if father saw it he 
would take it away from me and sell it for 
whisky. I promised her I would keep it 
out of father's sight. The day my mother 
died I sat by the bed and held her hands. 
She could not speak above a whisper. I 
thought it would make her feel better if I 
put the ring on her finger, and she smiled 
when she saw what I had done. In the af- 
ternoon father came home, and I was hold- 
ing mother's hand close in mine, so he 
could not see the ring. He came along 
and gave me a kick, and said, 'You lazy 
scamp, what are you here for? Why are 
you not at work at rag-picking?' He 
kicked me over on my face, and before I 
could get up he saw the ring on mother's 
hand and pulled it from her finger. Mother 
tried to hold on to it, but she was so weak 
she could not. She tried to speak, begging 
him not to take it away, but he did not 
pay any attention to her. As soon as he 
got the ring, he went right out. Mother 
felt so bad she covered her face, so I might 
not see her cry. I cried, for I was so sorry 
that I had lost the ring, when I told mother 



i8o How to Achieve Success. 

I would keep it. It made me feel bad to 
see father take it from her hand. I knelt 
down by the bed-side and took mother's 
hand in mine, and after I had kissed her, 
I fell asleep. When I awoke mother's 
hand was in mine, and it felt so cold it 
frightened me. I stood up and spoke to 
her, but she did not answer. I gave her a 
kiss, and her lips were cold. I staid by her 
all the forenoon, hoping she would wake 
up. In the afternoon a lady came in to get 
her to do some more work. She came up 
to the bed and looked at mother a moment, 
and then took hold of her hands, and she 
said, 'My poor boy, your mother is not 
asleep; she is dead.' " 

James stopped. His feelings overcame 
him so that he could not say more. 

Mrs. Hamilton saw that he was over- 
come, and she let him weep quietly. When 
he ceased she told him he could go out to 
the stable and see the horses; perhaps the 
hostler could find a sled for him to coast 
down the alley with. She wanted to be 
alone that she might think. 

Dr. Hamilton having completed his pro- 
fessional calls for the morning, came in 
and sat down in his home office to "warm 
up" before dinner. Mrs. Hamilton's 
thoughts were on James and the story he 
had told of his home and his mother. She 
narrated to her husband the full particulars 



How to Achieve Success. 181 

of her showing James the pictures of her 
old classmates, and of his recognizing 
Helen Jackson as his mother. Dr. Hamil- 
ton listened very attentively, and when his 
wife had finished, he lay back in his chair 
and gave vent to a hearty laugh over the 
serious turn which she was inclined to give 
to all that James had told her of his history. 
Dr. Hamilton then said, "You have wasted 
your sympathies on worse than the desert 
air this time. You are altogether too ten- 
der-hearted for the 'rag-pickers' and thieves 
who infest Murderer's alley. You might as 
well go out and talk to the northwest wind 
that is blowing so furiously, as to talk to 
one of these little street arabs, expecting to 
get honest truth out of him. That locality 
is a regular school of vice. Every day in 
the year they are turning out accomplished 
graduates, first-class thieves, burglars, and 
confidence men. This boy you are so 
deeply interested in has graduated young 
in years. He was an apt scholar; he 
learned his lesson well. He will make his 
mark in the world if he is allowed to run 
at large." 

Mrs. Hamilton asked, "Doctor, will you 
explain how it was that James should have 
picked out the picture of my old school- 
mate, Helen Jackson, and have known her 
name? It was not on the photograph. 
Then he described our class-ring so ac- 



1 82 How to Achieve Success. 

curately. It is an unaccountable mystery 
to me, and I wish you would explain it if 
you can." 

Dr. Hamilton replied, "There are many 
ways in which it might be explained. Per- 
haps your friend Helen's house has been 
burglarized, and her album and class-ring, 
among other things, were carried off. The 
plunder has been sent to the 'thieves' ex- 
change/ Murderer's alley. You probably 
are not aware of it, but there are regular 
organized exchanges of stolen goods in all 
large cities. As, for instance, goods stolen 
in our city may be sent to one of these ex- 
changes in New York or Chicago, while 
goods stolen in those cities may be sent 
here. If your friend Helen was living in 
New York, this accounts for James' hav- 
ing seen her photograph and ring, her name 
having been stamped in gilt upon the cover; 
and the artist probably penciled 'Helen 
Jackson' on the back of the picture for his 
guidance in having the right name upon 
each album. Very likely he knows just 
where to go to get those articles. As I 
infer from what you have said, he did not 
pretend to recognize any other face or give 
a name, only to this one picture. It is sim- 
ply a sharp trick of a shrewd, sharp, and 
cunning boy-thief. You mark my words, 
you will see how it will come out if the 
matter is sifted to the bottom. I would 



How to Achieve Success. 183 

rather have given a hundred dollars than 
to have had that little rascal come inside 
this house. He will, no doubt, post up his 
'pals' the first opportunity, and when we 
are away or off our guard, they will break 
in and ransack the house from cellar to 
garret. Supposing you give this boy shel- 
ter for a week. He may be a paragon of 
perfection; at the same time he would have 
so learned the run of the house and of its 
occupants that he could post up one of the 
gang, to which he belongs, so that they 
could 'work' the house at their pleasure six 
or twelve months hence; or he may to- 
night unfasten some window or door and 
let in one or more of these 'operators.' I 
fear you do not comprehend the risk you 
are running, when you allow a beggar to 
step inside the kitchen door. Half of those 
soap-and-silver-polish peddlers who travel 
from house to house, are simply 'spies' 
looking up 'sights,' in thieves' vocabulary. 
The peddler just wants to show you what 
wonderful polish, he has to sell, so he draws 
the front door key from the lock, and 
polishes the handle very nicely, just to 
show the contrast and the virtue of his 
polish. At the same time he takes an im- 
pression of the key upon a piece of wax he 
holds in the palm of his hand. With 'this 
impression he has a duplicate key made for 
an accomplice to 'work the house' when 



184 How to Achieve Success. 

the polish peddler may be hundreds of 
miles away. Just think of the amount of 
plunder they could carry off at one haul. A 
thousand dollars worth could be stowed 
away in one of those big, slouching over- 
coats that beggars invariably wear. If you 
will take notice, you will never see a beg- 
gar, man or woman, wearing a close-fitting 
garment. It may look to an unsophis- 
ticated person like a mark of humility — 
willing to wear any garment that is given 
to them, however unbecoming or ill-fitting. 
It is a kind of 'professional badge' by 
which you can judge pretty well of the 
character of the person who applies for 
charity. Gentle sharpers, who dupe bank 
officials — wholesale forgers — dress in a dif- 
ferent way. They wear the best cloth, 
made up in the latest style. Crooks of this 
class have the air of polished gentlemen, 
carry themselves with all the dignity of a 
'high churchman' — might pass for a min- 
ister or bishop. They never descend to 
thieving, house-breaking, or highway rob- 
bery. It is beneath their dignity to steal. 
Your little pet cub, of such lamb-like inno- 
cence and meekness, is no doubt a well- 
trained thief, and will make a mark in the 
profession if he is left outside of the reform- 
school during his minority. If I had my 
say, every boy and girl born in Murderer's 
alley would be sent to the reform-school 



How to Achieve Success. 185 

before they were three years old. In my 
opinion, the best and only way to suppress 
vice and crime is in its incipient stages. 
Another bad feature of our city govern- 
ment is the employment of men for police 
and night-watchmen who have no moral 
character; men who are worse than the 
class against whom they are hired to pro- 
tect property and persons. Many of them 
secure a place on the police force simply 
for the purpose of carrying on their ne- 
farious business, or allowing their friends 
and accomplices to work under guardian- 
ship of a city official. If our citizens could 
only know the rascality in this line that is 
carried on in this city, there would be some 
startling disclosures. Those bold and dar- 
ing wholesale robberies of banks and stores 
would not be veiled in unaccountable mys- 
tery. New York and Philadelphia have 
had to remove many men from the police 
force in consequence of the damaging dis- 
coveries that were brought to light by de- 
tectives. This is a crime a thousand times 
worse than being caught asleep on duty." 

Dr. Hamilton had mounted his hobby, 
and he spoke volubly. His lecture was 
listened to very attentively by his wife, and 
it made a deep impression upon her mind. 
But she was too kind to agree with him. 

She replied that she thought it was our 
Christian duty to exercise charitv toward 



1 86 How to Achieve Success. 

the unfortnuate, especially children, as they 
are not responsible for their existence, nor 
guilty of the sins of vicious parents; even 
their own sins, committed in ignorance, 
cannot merit the same degree of punish- 
ment as the crimes of those who are 
brought up in well-educated families. 

Here the discussion was brought to a 
close by the sound of the dinner-bell. 

Dr. Hamilton could not let the subject 
end there. He said, as he arose from his 
chair, "If I am not right in my judgment 
as to this boy, I will give you the best seal- 
skin outfit or what-not you can find at 
Hovey's, or anywhere else in Boston, if it 
costs a thousand dollars." 

Mrs. Hamilton said, "Very good; I am 
now certain of having a fur suit for Christ- 
mas, if you do not forget that promise. I 
believe there is a very great mystery hang- 
ing around this boy's life, and I shall not 
rest satisfied until it is fully and satisfac- 
torily explained." 

James came in from the kitchen, and 
Mrs. Hamilton gave him a seat at her side, 
as at breakfast. His coasting exercise had 
painted his cheeks with a rosy hue, and 
his keen, black eyes sparkled with more 
than the intelligence common in a boy of 
his years. His appetite was excellent, and 
the dinner was relished as a dinner never 
had been before. 



How to Achieve Success. 187 

Dr. Hamilton said little, but kept a close 
watch on the boy. The prolonged "talk" 
over James's sudden introduction into the 
family, prompted the Doctor to exercise 
his skill in reading his character and prob- 
able history — the Doctor considering him- 
self something of an expert on character- 
reading. Dinner over, Dr. Hamilton told 
James he might go out to the stable and 
tell the hostler to hitch up the "blacks," as 
soon as they were through eating. 

Mrs. Hamilton said, "Doctor, I wish you 
would, if you have time, drive up Wash- 
ington street, to Messrs. Ticknor & Field's 
book-store, and ask Mr. Field if Airs. Well- 
ing, our class historian, still keeps the class 
records at their store. If they are not there, 
he will know Mrs. Welling's address. As 
we spent three years abroad immediately 
after I graduated, I lost all track of Helen 
Jackson, not having met since we left 
Mount Holyoke. Alice Weston told me, 
on our return from Europe, that Helen was 
happily married to a very promising young 
lawyer, and I think she said they were liv- 
ing in Brooklyn. That is all I have known 
of Helen's history for more than fifteen 
years. It does seem so strange that two 
intimate friends, entering the seminary at 
the same time, and occupying the same 
room for four years, should have so com- 
pletely lost sight of each other." 



1 88 How to Achieve Success. 

As soon as the Doctor had left and Mrs. 
Hamilton had attended to the household 
duties, she called James into the library to 
catechize him once more — "cross-examine" 
him, as the lawyers say. She had become 
thoroughly stirred up by the talk she had 
with the Doctor before dinner, and she 
plied James with questions in regular law- 
yer fashion. James stood the examination 
like a boy who was telling the truth. He 
stuck to his original statements so per- 
sistently that it shook the faith of Mrs. 
Hamilton in her husband's theory consid- 
erably. 

Finally Mrs. Hamilton started out on a 
new line of examination. She questioned 
him as to whether he had any brothers or 
sisters. James said there was a little 
brother and sister, but they died before he 
was born. "They died one cold night all 
alone, because mamma was shut up in jail. 
Mamma used to tell me about them. They 
were buried in one coffin. Mamma always 
cried when she told me about little brother 
and sister, and that made me cry, too." 
• Tears began to show themselves in 
James's eyes, and he stopped, and taking 
from his pocket a little round pill-box and 
removing the cover, took out a slip, evi- 
dent v cut from a New York paper, and 
handing it to Mrs. Hamilton, said, "That 
tells all about it." 



How to Achieve Success. i8g 

It was headed: "Boston Red-Tape — 
Two Beautiful Children Frozen to Death — 
A Scene in the Boston Police-Court." We 
omit the court proceedings. We will let 
the reporter describe the home and what 
he saw there: 

"We were hurrying down State street 
to the custom-house to see a friend off for 
Europe, when we were halted by Officer 
Grew, and asked to go with him to see a 
sight. We bid our friend a hasty and 
hearty good-bye, and followed the officer. 
He led us down Broad street and turned 
into a narrow alley, and at the second or 
third door stepped in, and led the way up 
three flights of rickety stairs and entered a 
low attic room. It was lighted with a sin- 
gle dormer-window. The room and its 
condition showed it was a home where 
poverty and deprivation of every comfort 
of living were painfully manifested. A 
woman was kneeling beside a low bed in 
the wildest agony. Her eyes had a wild, 
maniac glare about them. They were tear- 
less. She was constantly wringing her 
hands, and it seemed as though she would 
twist them off or her wrists out of joint. 
A low moan, and then a shriek of the wild- 
est frenzy, exclaiming, T cannot go with 
you; I must go home. My little children 
are sick, and they will die before morning 
if you do not let me go to them. Help! O, 



190 How to Achieve Sticcess. 

help! I will not go and leave them to die.' 
Then exhausted, she sank down into a 
seeming unconscious state, which would 
last fifteen or twenty minutes, when a sim- 
ilar wild frenzy would come on. Upon the 
bed were two beautiful children, a boy of 
five and a girl of three, locked in each 
other's arms, and death had placed his seal 
upon those sweet faces. It was a sight for 
an artist. We wished for the power to 
have wrought those lovely faces into mar- 
ble. A finer model never was set for an 
artist. Their bodies were frozen stiff and 
could not be separated. They were placed 
in the coffin just as they were found." 

Dr. Hamilton called at Ticknor & Field's 
store on his way home. Mr. Field in- 
formed him that Mrs. Welling, the class 
historian, had the day before sent for the 
records. She had to prepare a report for 
the coming anniversary, and desired to 
have them at home where she could work 
upon it at her leisure. Mrs. Welling's ad- 
dress was Providence, Rhode Island. Mrs. 
Hamilton lost no time in addressing a note 
to Mrs. Welling to learn of Helen Jackson. 

Mrs. Welling responded promptly, and 
this is what she said in reply to Mrs. Ham- 
ilton's note of inquiry: 

"My Dear Mrs. Hamilton: — You do 
not know how glad I was to receive a let- 
ter this morning from a dear old class- 



How to Achieve Success. 191 

mate. I only wished you had come in the 
place of the letter. Would we not have 
had a good long 'chat' over our school- 
days at the seminary? I have just been 
longing to see some one of our old class. 
Why cannot you come and make me a 
good visit? Come and stay a week, at least. 
By the way, you must not forget our re- 
union next June; you know we all agreed 
to return to our alma mater on the twen- 
tieth anniversary of our graduation. 

"I often try to imagine how we shall look 
after twenty years of separation. As I look 
forward, how long, yet how short, when 
numbered with the past. I wonder if I 
shall know you, and if you would know me. 
Old Father Time has laid his hand heav- 
ily upon me. I am not that 'lively girl' 
who used to cut up so many 'pranks,' and 
keep the teachers in a 'peck of trouble' over 
a little rebellion that seemed ever on the 
eve of an open revolt, and then poor I was 
so seriously suspected of having a hand in 
the plot, if not of being its leader. I won- 
der! Didn't I enjoy seeing little Miss 
Smart get into a towering rage over some 
insignificant misdemeanor of a pupil. 

"Well, those days have passed, and now 
I am very much of an old lady. Yes, there 
are several who call me 'Grandma Welling/ 
So now you will have to put your wits to 
work to imagine how the 'old lady' who is 



192 How to Achieve Siiccess. 

now addressing you will look next June. I 
have my mind's eye on a little 'Miss Cow- 
ing,' who forever wanted to be going just 
where she couldn't — over the fence into 
tempting fields of exploration — all because 
she was fenced in, hedged in, by the in- 
exorable rules of the institution. 

"We shall not meet all of our old class- 
mates there. Our ranks have been sadly 
broken. Death has not been idle, and sev- 
eral have fallen by the way. Having been 
chosen necrologist, I have a sad, very sad, 
duty to perform. I dread it; I dread to 
read the record. Several of the flower of 
the class will be missing. Helen Jackson, 
of whom you inquire, was one of the love- 
liest members of our class. She possessed 
rare graces. Her modesty and kindness 
were of the heart. Her sympathy was 
strong and deep for any member of the 
class who might be sick or needed assist- 
ance in any way. She was always ready to 
respond to any call for help. She was ad- 
mirably fitted to grace any society she 
chose to enter. I did envy her talents and 
the bright future that opened up before 
her so auspiciously. It was wicked and I 
knew it. I have repented of that sin of 
covetousness. How little we know what 
sore disappointments are allotted to our 
friends! As I know how deep Helen had 
to drink of the bitterest cup ever placed to 



How to Achieve Success. 193 

the lips of any one, I cannot be too grate- 
ful that my fortune was not hers. I wish I 
were as good as she was. 

"I will give you the brief story of Helen's 
life, hoping to make it much fuller in my 
historical report for the June anniversary. 

"Helen was married, soon after graduat- 
ing, to Joseph Howard Noxx, a very prom- 
ising young lawyer. He ranked high in his 
profession. Few lawyers at the Suffolk 
bar gained so prominent a position in so 
brief a time. His services were in constant 
demand, not only professionally, but he 
was sought for on many public occasions. 
As a speaker, few were his equals — he was 
a fine orator. His success was his ruin. He 
took a 'social glass' now and then. The 
wine club next became his resort. Then 
came neglect of business. As business fell 
off his dissipation increased. His friends 
induced him to change his location, hoping 
that by breaking away from his too fast 
friends, he might start anew. He removed 
to New York City. His professional repu- 
tation went with him. Business came fast, 
unsolicited, and so did the tempter. The 
appetite for liquor had got a firm hold 
upon him, and he could not overcome it. 
He drank freely. The wine club was his 
daily resort. Business disappeared. Men 
of wealth would not commit their interests 
to the hands of an attornev who would 



194 How fo Achieve Success. 

jeopardize them by his habits of dissipa- 
tion. He had sold himself to that inex- 
orable tyrant — whisky. His beautiful 
home was stripped of its elegant furnish- 
ings; he had to abandon it for a less de- 
sirable one. He had to change his dwell- 
ing-place often. Each change was for the 
worse. He returned to Boston, his wife 
still clinging to him with all the devotion 
that characterizes a true woman. She 
never lost hope. She tried every way to 
reclaim him. Her efforts were futile. In 
his sober moments he bewailed the sad 
wreck he had made of himself. In vain 
did he resolve and re-resolve, and promise 
in the most earnest and solemn manner, 
never, no never, to drink another drop of 
liquor. The appetite was the master, and 
he was the slave bound in bands stronger 
than iron. His wife took in washing to 
earn bread for herself and children. There 
were two beautiful little ones, a boy of five 
and a little girl of three years. They were 
taken sick with the croup. One Saturday 
morning she needed medicine for the chil- 
dren and coal to last over Sunday. She 
gave her husband three dollars, all the 
money she had, to get the medicine, and 
buy coal with the balance. He was sober, 
and promised most faithfully that he would 
get the medicine and purchase the coal, 
and not visit any saloon, and return as soon 



How to Achieve Success. 195 

as possible. Noon came, and he was still 
absent. The children were growing worse 
for the need of the medicine. The coal was 
reduced to a bucketful: Mrs. Noxx be- 
came exceedingly anxious over the situa- 
tion. It was a cold night, and was growing 
colder. She had no neighbors. They 
were living in an attic in a block used for 
storage. Not another person roomed in 
the building. Mrs. Noxx was in still 
greater distress. It was midnight, the fire 
had gone out, and the cold was intense. 
Water was freezing in the room. The 
children were suffering intensely. The 
mother was helpless to alleviate their ter- 
rible sufferings. She needed hot water to 
prepare warm drinks, and hot cloths to 
bandage their throats, that they might 
breathe with less difficulty. What could 
she do at the dead hour of night? Not a 
friend was near whom she could call upon 
for assistance. She was in a terrible di- 
lemma. She could not sit by her darlings 
and see them die without making one effort 
to save them, even if she could not save 
them. She tucked them in as well as she 
could, and putting on a shawl and taking a 
bag, she hurried down to a boat-yard, 
where she had often been before, to get 
chips and shavings. She had not gone 
more than two or three squares before she 
discovered a watchman following her. She 



196 How to Achieve Success. 

tried to keep out of his sight. She was 
near a lumber-yard, and went in and hid 
behind a pile of lumber. The watchman 
followed her, and searched until he found 
her hiding-place. He asked her what she 
was there for, and ordered her to 'come 
along.' She went with him to the street, 
and told him why she was out at that hour 
of the night. He replied that he had heard 
too many such yarns; she would have to go 
to the lock-up with him. She said if he 
would go to her home, and if he did not 
find her little children sick and dying for 
want of care, then she would go readily 
with him to the lock-up. He would not 
listen to her pleadings. She refused to go. 
He sprang his rattle for help. Another 
officer came to his aid. She pleaded with 
him. He told her to 'shut up,' she was go- 
ing to the lock-up, and the judge would 
settle her case Monday morning. They 
dragged her to the lock-up, although it 
would not have been a square out of their 
way to have gone by her home. At the 
lock-up the officer in charge was deaf to all 
her pleadings, and threatened to place her 
in the dungeon if she didn't stop her 'talk- 
ing' and keep quiet. The sequel to this ter- 
rible outrage was published in the city 
papers at the time. I enclose a slip, which 
please return when you have done with it. 
"It would seem that her cup of sorrow 



How to Achieve Success. 197 

was more than full; that nature must have 
yielded to the terrible strain. Years of 
accumulated sorrow were hers to suffer, to 
endure. Her husband sank lower and 
lower, and partook more of brute nature 
than of the human. Liquor had burned out 
the last vestige of his manhood. Another 
son was born to suffer untold miseries. 
The mother died a little more than a year 
ago. By a late paper I noticed the father 
had died in the gutter. A poor orphan 
boy is left to battle with life alone. For 
the mothers sake I wish that he could be 
placed in some good home. What a sad 
life was Helen's! That our valedictorian 
should have had such a fate seems incred- 
ible. Surely those whose path seemed the 
brightest at the start often prove it may 
turn to the blackest shades of night." 

Mrs. Hamilton was now fully convinced 
that Helen was James's mother, and the 
story that he had told her as to his mother 
was true in every particular. However, to 
satisfy the doctor, she wrote again to Mrs. 
Welling to know if there were any addi- 
tional particulars of evidence whereby she 
could be doubly assured as to the identity 
of James. 

Mrs. Welling, in answer, wrote: 
"My Dear Mrs. Hamilton: — As to the 
identity of James, the boy you have with 
you, there is not the least difficulty in set- 



198 How to Achieve Success. 

tling that beyond a doubt. The city phy- 
sician is an old friend of my husband, and 
through him I learned the particulars I 
gave in my first letter. The city physician 
was here last week, and taking up a photo- 
graph of a very ragged boy, wished to 
know how that came to be in my collection 
of photographs. He then gave me the par- 
ticulars of that boy's mother. Had it not 
been for him we never should have known 
of her last days. Helen kept all her griefs 
locked in her own bosom. My daughter was 
attending the art school in Boston. The 
teacher wanted several boys for models, 
and requested the pupils whenever they 
found a good specimen to bring him in. 
My daughter was out for a walk one day, 
and she took a stroll along the wharves, 
and she discovered some half a dozen boys, 
like bees, around a sugar hogshead, feast- 
ing themselves on the sweetness that was 
clinging around the sides of the cask. It 
occurred to her that 'here are some choice 
specimens.' She made arrangements with 
the entire lot to go up with her to the 
school. Six 'sugar-coated' boys accom- 
panied her to the art rooms. The teachers 
were delighted with the specimens. My 
daughter having been the only successful 
one in securing 'models,' was allowed to 
choose her boy. He was so comically 
dressed and had such fine features, and 



How to Achieve Success, 199 

fearing if she let him go she never could 
catch him again, she took him to a photo- 
graph gallery and had his likeness taken 
just as he was — sugar and all. She wrote 
his name on the back of the photograph, 
and the city physician recognized the boy 
at once. Now, I am going to enclose the 
photograph in this letter, and if James re- 
members these facts about it you may rest 
assured that you have found Helen's 
motherless boy." 

JAMES NOXX'S HOME. 

The home in which James Noxx was 
born, and in which he passed his early 
childhood, was one from which most boys 
would have recoiled with fear and horror, 
and indeed James himself recoiled from it 
when he thought of the suffering which he 
had witnessed and experienced there. Yet to> 
it he turned as his home, because he had no> 
knowledge of any other, and because in it,. 
in the midst of its wretchedness and repul- 
siveness, there was one attraction — his 
mother. But she could not make it a 
heaven on earth, when the demon of the 
whisky-bottle was the despotic tyrant 
which ruled the house. 

James's father was a dissipated man and 
a notorious drunkard. None but those 
w T ho have learned by bitter experience can 
know what a drunkard's home is like, what 



200 How to Achieve Success. 

disgrace and untold misery it brings upon 
the family, isolating them from all decent 
society, depriving them of every social 
relation and its enjoyments — cutting them 
off from assistance and sympathy of friends 
and neighbors. We do pity the drunkard's 
wife and children, who are the innocent 
victims of a drunken father, the helpless 
ones upon whom falls the curse of his 
degradation. It would be difficult to find 
a boy who began life in worse circum- 
stances or with more unfavorable sur- 
roundings than those that environed James 
Noxx. His early life was one of extreme 
hardship. There was no sunshine along 
the way to make it bright and cheerful; 
there was little to gladden his heart in all 
these years. Although he had so good a 
mother, she could not lift the cruel burden 
that was crushing the very life-blood from 
her bleeding heart, and w r as powerless to 
relieve James from his cruel bondage. 

Her heart went out in loving sympathy 
for her boy, and she did all she could to 
lighten his burdens and soothe his troubled 
soul. The happy days of boyhood, so full 
of childish sports, free from all care, were 
unknown to him — blotted out of his early 
experience. His pathway was ever 
shrouded in the deepest gloom; it was a 
rough and thorny road for his tender feet. 
His little heart was made to bleed, pierced 



How to Achieve Success. 201 

by the cruel shafts of the arch enemy of all 
happiness — that remorseless demon of the 
bottle. It had transformed one of the best 
of fathers into that demon which had rob- 
bed a home of all that might have made it 
a home of delight and happiness. 

It had ruined and brought his father 
down from the highest position to the gut- 
ter. It robbed him of a lucrative law prac- 
tice; it ruined a happy home; it killed one 
of the best of wives; it compelled its 
wretched slave to sacrifice everything upon 
the altar of the appetite which controlled 
him — the bright prospects before him, his 
good reputation, his family, his friends, all 
— everything went to satisfy the demands 
of the insatiate demon — thirst. To it he 
had surrendered his manhood, and his 
generous nature — every noble impulse. 

James never knew what it was to have a 
sober father, for it was rare for him to be 
free from the influence of whisky. He was 
cross and brutal at all times. He had no 
more pity for his family than a starving 
hyena has for its prey. Devoid of paternal 
feeling, he was more remorseless than the 
grave. James's life had been one of ex- 
treme hardship. Heavy burdens were laid 
upon his young shoulders, too heavy for a 
boy of tender years. He was compelled to 
go in all weathers upon the street to pick 
up rags. It was no pleasing task for a boy 



202 How to Achieve Success. 

of his years to be associated with profes- 
sional "rag-pickers" — street arabs. There 
was the "rag-pickers' union," and they 
wanted no interlopers in the field, es- 
pecially if the new-comer was not of their 
kind. The field was already assigned and 
occupied by the members of the rag- 
picker's union. There was no escape for 
James; the stern and imperative orders of a 
heartless father forced him upon the streets, 
and once there, he was compelled to endure 
treatment scarcely less inhuman than that 
inflicted by his father. 

Rag-pickers, as a class, belong to the 
lowest stratum of fallen humanity. Conse- 
quently they are a representative class, 
little less than convicted criminals of the 
worst grade — professional thieves. The 
rag-picker's union was a monopoly. James 
was compelled to respect their arrogant de- 
mands and assumed rights. If he found a 
good field to prospect in, he was ordered 
off. If he did not go, they would club him 
until he did. They took special delight in 
tormenting him in every way they could; 
accused him of stealing some of their 
plunder for a pretext to examine his bag, 
then steal his rags, bag and all. If he com- 
plained they would beat him cruelly. So 
the poor boy was abused day after day by 
these street arabs. Yet a worse ordeal 
awaited him when he returned home at 



How to Achieve Success. 203 

night. If his complement of rags failed to 
satisfy his father's expectations, he was re- 
warded by a severe reprimand, and fre- 
quently a cruel flogging followed. Bowed 
down with the sorrows of his hard lot, his 
heart ready to burst with anguish, he gave 
vent to his pent-up feelings in floods of 
tears, which provoked his inhuman father to 
heap upon him his anathemas for the sorrow 
he could not repress. It was enough to chill 
the ambition and aspirations of a young 
life. Such are some of the woes that come 
to many a boy who has a drunken father. 

How could a boy with all the evil in- 
fluences of low and vicious associates 
abroad and the brutal treatment and vile 
example of a drunken father at home, fail 
to become a wicked man, a curse to him- 
self, a nuisance in society, and a burden to 
the State? 

The way to ruin is easy. The home in- 
fluences are so woven into the web of life 
that they stamp the character for good or 
ill. Such influences are liable to become 
indelibly impressed upon the young, plas- 
tic nature, and are as enduring as if they 
were chiselled into adamantine rock. In- 
fluence is eternal. What fearful responsi- 
bility rests upon the home! 

All the proceeds of James's labor went 
for whisky. All the household furniture, 
piece by piece, went for whisky. All his 



204 How to Achieve Success. 

mother's clothing that James's father could 
get hold of, all her little mementoes and 
precious keep-sakes, everything the saloon- 
keeper would take in exchange, or the 
pawnbroker would receive on "pawn," 
went for whisky — to the last loaf of bread 
when his wife and child were famishing. 

At last death entered that home. Death 
is no respecter of persons. He enters the 
hovel and the palace alike. He has no re- 
gard for high or low; position or condition 
are not considerations which govern that 
grim guest. 

James's mother was dead. The best 
and only friend he had in the world. She 
died of a broken heart, neglect, and starva- 
tion. For days there was not a morsel of 
food fit for a sick woman or the price of a 
loaf of bread in that miserable abode. She 
died and was buried while the husband was 
away on a drunken spree. When he re- 
turned and found his wife missing — dead 
and buried — he had no regrets, no tears to 
shed. Whisky and how to get it was his 
all-absorbing thought. He concerned him- 
self about nothing beyond. 

After James's mother died a heavier bur- 
den was his to carry. He had no one to 
care for him or to sympathize with him in 
his loneliness, in his new-found grief. Many 
a time he and his mother had gone sup- 
perless to bed; yet she never would let 



How to Achieve Success. 205 

James suffer hunger when they had any- 
thing to eat. She would deny herself rather 
than that he should want. There never 
was a surplus on their table. James's father 
was ever waiting for the last cent of his 
daily earnings. He had to get his food as 
he could. The drunkard's food is all in 
whisky. James occasionally found small 
pieces of money, or did something for which 
he would obtain a small compensation. 
With the money he bought bread. He 
would not beg, and when the gnawing*s of 
hunger could not be appeased, he resorted 
to the slop-pails and barrels upon the 
street, filled every morning with the waste 
and refuse that came from the well-spread 
tables of those who never know want or 
hunger. It was often a strife between the 
city scavengers, the half-starved and 
worthless curs, and James, as to who had 
the best right to "fish" in those filthy 
receptacles, filled with the refuse of the 
kitchen. It was his last resort to satisfy the 
cravings of hunger. Such were some of 
the trials of James Noxx in his boyhood. 

Mrs. Hamilton proved a good mother to 
the boy. After she learned that his own 
mother was her dear, old classmate, she 
took a deeper interest in his welfare. After 
three years of probation, James became 
the adopted son of the Hamiltons, taking 
the place of an only son who was dead. 



2o6 How to Achieve Success. 

James grew up to be a good man, rilled 
many offices of trust, and died mourned by 
all who were so fortunate as to have his ac- 
quaintance. 

Years ago a New Orleans merchant was 
in Boston on business. His only compan- 
ion was a dog. The merchant was taken 
sick, died, and was buried in that "Beauti- 
ful City of the Dead," Mount Auburn. The 
faithful dog was the solitary mourner. He 
watched his master's grave day and night. 
Lying down upon the grave, nothing could 
induce him to leave it, and there he died of 
grief. A fac simile of the dog was cut in 
marble and placed over the grave of his 
master. Not far away is a family enclosure. 
In the centre is a marble column. Just at 
the right of the column James was laid to 
rest. The family name is on the shaft, but 
it is not "Hamilton." 

A LESSON FROM THE NOXX FAMILY. 

We have introduced the Noxx family to 
our readers for a special object. First, to 
impress upon young men the fearful risk 
there is in the least indulgence — imbibing 
the "first glass" of the "accursed stuff," 
liquid fire. 

The story of the rise and fall of Joseph 
Howard Noxx is only one of a thousand 
who have made the same fatal mistake by 



How to Achieve Success. 207 

consenting to take a "social glass" to please 
a friend. That cowardly fear of giving of- 
fense is what ruined Mr. Noxx, and it is 
ruining young men by hundreds, by 
thousands — those who have not the moral 
courage to stand up in their manhood and 
say "no." 

The other consideration which we wish 
to make most emphatic is, that however 
degrading and humiliating it may be to 
own a drunken father, it is not your fault, 
your sin, unless you follow in his footsteps; 
to assure you that it does not prevent or 
debar such a young man from rising above 
the most unfortunate circumstances and 
the most miserable surroundings imagin- 
able, if he but will's it and makes up his 
mind that he will be a man. 

For they conquer who believe they can. — 
Dryden. 

There are scores of instances on record 
where the sons of drunkards who had the 
misfortune of a life-long example, with all 
its debasing influences, as well as an 
hereditary thirst for liquor, yet have made 
for themselves an honorable record. We 
could give the name of a distinguished gen- 
tleman who has filled many important pub- 
lic offices, and who is now enjoying an in- 
come of twenty-five thousand dollars a 
year, whose early home was that of a 



208 How to Achieve Success. 

drunkard. His father was an old toper — 
cared nothing for his family or friends. 
Whisky he considered his best friend and 
boon companion; to keep company with it 
was his sole ambition, while the family were 
sorely pinched w T ith poverty, being almost 
daily on the borders of starvation. 

I dare do all that may become a man; who dares 
do more is none. — Shakspeare. 

Another instance is of a gentleman who 
was the son of a poor, dissipated father. 
The son was "apprenticed out" to learn a 
trade, and the small pittance he received 
went to buy rum for his father. Many a 
time was that son compelled to look upon 
that father lying in the filth of the gutter, 
dead drunk. It gave the son the horrors, 
and made him set his face like a flint 
against rum and rum-dealers. He rose in 
his manhood — in years only his boyhood — 
with a fixed purpose, with an invincible de- 
termination, that he would rise above his 
unfortunate condition and become a man. 
He gave himself to hard study, spending 
his evenings in the solitude of his own 
chamber, with his books, acquiring useful 
knowledge. Step by step he worked his 
way along until he reached the highest 
position in the gift of his native State — its 
governor. He went to congress, and was 
elected speaker of the house of representa- 



How to Achieve Success. 209 

tives. Many other offices of responsibility 
he filled with honor. 

Let no one say: "My lot is a hard one;" 
"I am bound down by untoward circum- 
stances;'' "There is no hope for me;" "My 
burden is too heavy for me to carry;" "All 
these things are against me;" "I might as 
well give up first as last;" "My untimely 
entrance upon life blighted every prospect, 
closed every avenue against me, and what's 
the use of my trying to rise above the un- 
happy condition of my inheritance, my 
birth-right?" If once you allow such 
thoughts to weigh upon your mind, you 
peril the mighty possibilities which are 
within your grasp, if you will it. Giving 
way to the "blues" will not make a man of 
you, or bring you to the greatest good. 
Study carefully the lives of other heroes 
who have made themselves heroes by lift- 
ing themselves out of the mire and low 
surroundings, to "stand before kings." 

The highway to success is hedged up to 
no one who dares to be a man. Young 
man, look up, not down. 

Fortune befriends the bold. — Dry den. 



How to Achieve Success. 



HAPPY HOMES. 

A WIFE. 

There is a magic in that little word, — it is a 
mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues 
never known beyond its hallowed limits. — Southey. 

I want (who does not want?) a wife, — 

Affectionate and fair; 
To solace all the woes of life, 

And all its joys to share. 
Of temper sweet, of yielding will, 

Of firm, yet placid mind, — 
With all my faults to love me still, 

"With sentiment refined. 

—John Quincy Adams. 

Every young man needs a home of his 
own. If he is wise he will in due time 
have one. The sooner he makes up his 
mind to that fact, the better it will be for 
him. A home should be the best place on 
earth. A delightful retreat to which to 
fly when the day's labors are over; where 
the cares and perplexities of business find 
no lodging-place. If a home is not pleas- 
ant, the husband will seek other places to 
spend .his evenings. We know of men who 
belong to every lodge, club, and society 
there is to belong to, and are ready to 



How to Achieve Success. 211 

watch with a "sick brother" once a week, 
simply because the house they eat and sleep 
in is not a home. It is wonderful how long 
a "sick brother" needs watchers, how he 
holds on to life. We have known of that 
sick brother for a quarter of a century; and 
he "still lives." He never will die until the 
last man of the last club and lodge is dead 
and buried. 

A New Hampshire woman has a hus- 
band who is addicted to joining secret 
societies. One of her exasperated out- 
bursts is thus reported, "Jine! He'd jine 
anything. There can't nothing come along 
that's dark and sly and hidden, but he'll 
jine it. If anybody should get up a society 
to burn his house down, he'd jine it just as 
soon as he could get in, and if he had to 
pay to get in he'd go all the suddener." 

To have a happy home there must be a 
similarity of tastes between husband and 
wife, a congeniality of desires and aspira- 
tions. If the husband is an ignoramus, and 
the wife a lady of refinement and culture, 
there will not be much social enjoyment 
around the evening lamp. 

The Arabs have a tradition that the 
human race was created in halves, and each 
half sent out traveling around the world to 
find its other half, and if the right half was 
found, happiness was the inevitable result. 
If the wrong one was selected — two odd 



212 How to Achieve Success. 

halves — there was no match and no hap- 
piness. 

A young man is very unwise to seek to en- 
ter into society that he has no relish for, and 
cannot enjoy. The aspiration to rise above 
one's natural surroundings is very com- 
mendable; but to aspire to move in society 
entirely beyond one's capacity for enjoy- 
ment would only make a man miserable. 
No one would be so foolish as to run after 
a railroad train that he never could over- 
take. But it is quite as foolish for any one 
to try to enter into society to which he can- 
not attain. This excludes no one from en- 
joying happiness to his fullest capacity. If 
you wish to rise above your fellows, you 
have something to do. Hard work and 
constant study will bring any man into a 
higher and better life. Beaconsfield did 
not reach his place as premier of England 
by indolence, or by waiting for luck to ele- 
vate him to that high position. Far from 
it. He belonged to the "despised race" — 
was a Jew; and even after he took his seat 
in parliament, was "hissed" down on his 
first speech. The members did not hiss at 
him afterward. There is a preparative pro- 
cess required of every one who wishes to 
rise above his environment. If he is not 
willing to submit to the drill, he cannot 
expect promotion. 



How to Achieve Success. 213 

FALLING IN LOVE. 

Never marry but for love, but see that tliou lovest 
what is lovely. — William Penn. 

Falling in love and marrying at sight are 
just as good as a prolonged courtship, pro- 
vided the union should prove to be a happy 
one. A man in the State of Michigan fell 
in love with a young lady and married her 
on the same day. She was not inclined to 
say more than "yes," or "no," and he at- 
tributed it to her modesty. It increased 
the value of the prize for him. He was 
economical, and was quite satisfied with 
getting a wife with no time lost in courting, 
or in decking himself with handsome neck- 
ties; but, unfortunately for him, he quickly 
changed his mind, when he found his neck 
was tied with a tie he could not untie. He 
had married a foolish girl — an idiot. 

A few days ago a young lady in Illinois 
said she would be married in fifteen min- 
utes if she could find the man. A friend 
happened to know a "fifteen minute" man 
and brought him in, and they were mar- 
ried. A fifteen minute courtship is just as 
good, or better, than a fifteen year court- 
ship, if the right halves make the match. 
If they should not match, what then? It is 
dangerous business to fall in love at sight. 
Better go slow. 

On the other hand, we can commend 



214 How to Achieve Success. 

although we need not emulate the extreme 
prudence of the young man in the State of 
Connecticut, who, after he had courted his 
lady-love seven years, asked her, "Nellie, 
dear, do you think it would be improper or 
wrong for us now to exchange a kiss?" We 
presume she did not. 

We read of a man who fell in love with a 
"dummy" in a show window. We think it 
was not reciprocated, and consequently no 
harm came of it. 

A young lady who was rescued from a 
watery grave, and when restored to her 
senses declared she would marry her res- 
cuer, at all hazards, was not a little taken 
back to learn that it was a Newfoundland 
dog that had saved her life. 

All matches are not made in heaven. 
Those that have a good deal of fire and 
brimstone in their composition are not 
made there. Green hands cannot exercise 
too much caution about fooling with dan- 
gerous compounds. Some of these unequal 
matches "go off," and somebody gets hurt. 

BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. 

I chose my wife, as she did her wedding-gown, 
for qualities that would wear well. — Goldsmith. 

In the choice of a partner a young man 
should exercise the same prudence and 
caution that he would in business relation. 
It comes right down to that with all sen- 



How to Achieve Success. 215 

sible persons. Every one should go about 
it in a straightforward way, and not go 
sneaking around as though he were 
ashamed of his job, or were going to do 
some mean thing. When a man of busi- 
ness enters into a copartnership he goes 
into it intelligently, consults those who can 
advise him, and who can judge whether it 
would be a good move for him. After ob- 
taining all the advice and the best counsel, 
he exercises his best judgment before he 
commits himself. A life partnership is of 
vastly more importance than a mere busi- 
ness partnership. A young man cannot 
be too careful about forming a life-part- 
nership. His whole life is to be modified. 
It is the most momentous event that will 
ever come to him. He needs therefore to 
exercise the utmost care and caution in 
selecting a life-partner. Because a lady 
can sing, and play the piano well, or has a 
pretty face, dances gracefully, has a fine 
flow of language, reads French, sings in 
Italian, and dreams in Spanish, and has all 
the showy accomplishments of a fashion- 
able young lady, it does not follow that she 
is a proper helpmate for a young man. 
Splendid parlor ornaments may captivate, 
and lead young men to decide thoughtlessly 
by such exhibitions of showy talents, but 
they are very certain to bring disappoint- 
ment and miserable homes. 



216 How to Achieve Success. 



THE MODERN BELLE. 

She sits in a fashionable parlor, 

And rocks in her easy chair; 
She is clad in her silks and satins, 

And jewels are in her hair; 
She winks and giggles and simpers, 

And simpers and giggles and winks; 
And though she talks but little, 

'Tis a great deal more than she thinks. 

She lies in bed in the morning 

Till near the hour of noon, 
Then comes down snapping and snarling 

Because she was called so soon; 
Her hair is still in papers, 

Her cheeks still fresh with paint — 
Remains of her last night's blushes, 

Before she intended to faint. 
•**■*•*■*■*•** 
She falls in love with a fellow 

Who swells with a foreign air; 
He marries her for her money, 

She marries him for his hair; 
One of the very best matches — 

Both are well-mated in life; 
She's got a fool for a husband, 

He's got a fool for a wife ! 

— Stark. 

There are society girls and home girls. 
The former appear best abroad — they are 
the girls who are good for parties, visits, 
balls, etc., whose chief delight is in such 
things. The latter are the kind that appear 
best at home — the girls who are cheerful 
and useful in the dining-room, the sick- 
room, and the precincts of home. They 



How to Achieve Success. 217 

differ widely in character. One is frequent- 
ly a torment at home; the other is a bless- 
ing. One is a moth, consuming every- 
thing about her; the other is a sunbeam, 
inspiring with life and goodness all who 
come within her influence. Now it does 
not necessarily follow that there must be 
two classes of girls. The right education 
would modify both of them a little, and 
unite their characters in one. 

There are other accomplishments of 
much greater value than those we have 
mentioned that a young man should look 
for in a wife if he has to depend upon his 
own labor for a living. A "society lady" 
would be out of place in his home. Such a 
wife would be miserable unless in the whirl- 
pool of excitement, giving or attending 
fashionable parties weekly, and would not 
add to his happiness. A wife who is ig- 
norant of all the household duties, who is 
not mistress of every department, is not 
qualified to take charge of her home. We 
hear young ladies, even married ladies, 
boast that they do not know how to pre- 
pare a dinner. For a rich man, with plenty 
of servants, such a wife may do. He can 
afford it. A wasteful house-keeper will 
ruin any young man. If a young lady has 
been accustomed to extravagance, plenty 
of everything to do with, and to spend, it 
will be one of the hardest lessons for her 



218 How to Achieve Success. 

to learn, if ever learned, when necessity 
compels her to exercise economy. 

GOOD HOUSE-KEEPERS ARE A RARITY. 

To be a neat house-keeper, a first-class 
cook, without wastefulness, is a rare gift. 
The French people excel in making the 
best out of the least and poorest material. 
We have been from cellar to attic in a 
thousand homes, and we could tell some 
shocking tales about the way some homes 
are kept among the bon ton. We have seen 
on the street, a lady dressed like a queen, 
in her silks and satins, whose piano was 
covered with dust so thick you could not 
tell what wood it was made of; we have 
seen the same lady, with one swoop of her 
arm, attempt to sweep the dust off, all in 
her street costume of silks. We have been 
in a mansion, costing fifty thousand dol- 
lars to build, where a square yard of pedi- 
gree, elegantly framed, was hanging on the 
wall in the hall, and the lady in silks was 
reclining on an elegant sofa in the parlor. 
Yet, the dining-room and the kitchen were 
so dirty and filthy that it disgusted us to 
look around. At the door were thrown 
out to the dogs, nice cake, rich cuts of beef, 
large loaves of bread, etc., all spoiled in 
baking. Still the square yard of pedigree 
hung on the wall in the front hall. We 
passed through the chambers and saw even 



How to Achieve Success. 219 

more startling sights. We saw the labors 
of numerous spiders, elaborate festoons 
that graced every corner — the delicate net- 
work sweeping across from corner to cor- 
ner, ornamented with the "dust of ages." 
The square yard of pedigree hung on the 
wall in the front hall all the same. We 
came to the conclusion that a square yard 
of pedigree in the front hall was not a di- 
ploma for superior house-keeping accom- 
plishments. Don't go too much on "pedi- 
gree." 

A good education — the very best that 
can be secured — is a very desirable accom- 
plishment for a young lady. But when 
she knows more of French than she does of 
domestic economy, in our opinion she has 
too much education to fill the place of a 
good housewife. It is not necessary that 
she do all the hard drudgery of the kitchen, 
but if she is able to see that all the appoint- 
ments of the kitchen are properly carried 
out, economically as well as hygienically, 
she understands a science superior to all 
the knowledge found in books. The 
knowledge of French or Italian will not 
guarantee good bread or light biscuit, or 
cook a beefsteak to a turn. It is an inde- 
pendent branch of education, and one's 
health and happiness are dependent upon 
the way the food is prepared every day and 
three times each day. It is what we eat 



220 How to Achieve Success. 

that makes us hearty, robust, and strong, 
or weak and puny. A thousand ills are to 
be averted or endured by the way food is 
prepared in the kitchen. Charging up to 
providence, sickness, indigestion, dyspep- 
sia, and other kindred ills, is simply wicked- 
ness, when all these ills are the direct re- 
sults of villainous cooking. The most nu- 
tritious and easily digested food may be 
converted into the most unwholesome and 
indigestible, by the carelessness and ig- 
norance of the cook. If you wish to avoid 
expense, waste, sickness, doctor's bills, etc., 
you must have the very best culinary skill. 
We are very glad to know that the sub- 
ject has been recently brought before the 
public, and schools are being established, 
and are becoming popular, where practical 
instructions are given in the science of 
cooking. That the lowest and most ig- 
norant class of servants have so long been 
left to prepare the daily food for the family, 
is one of the mysterious problems which 
we cannot solve on any known hypothesis. 
The only good that comes from it is, that it 
affords the doctors, druggists, and under- 
takers much better incomes. It would be 
too bad to let them die for want of busi- 
ness. So their patients are sick and die 
that they may live. The cooks are in 
league with the doctors. 



How to Achieve Success. 221 

WHAT IOWA GIRLS ARE TAUGHT. 

At the Iowa agricultural college every 
girl in the junior class has learned how to 
make good bread — weighing and measur- 
ing her ingredients, mixing, kneading, and 
baking, and regulating her fire. Each has 
also been taught to make yeast and make 
biscuit, pudding, pies, and cakes of various 
kinds; how to cook a roast, broil a steak, 
and make a fragrant cup of coffee; how to 
stuff and roast a turkey, make oyster-soup, 
prepare stock for other soups, steam and 
mash potatoes so that they will melt in 
the mouth, and in short, to get up a first- 
class meal, combining both substantial and 
fancy dishes, in good style. Theory and 
manual skill have gone hand in hand. If 
there is anything that challenges the unlim- 
ited respect and devotion of the masculine 
mind it is ability in woman to order well 
her own household. 

Perhaps our readers may ask what this 
has to do with "love, courtship, and happy 
homes." It has everything to do with it. 
No man can be happy if he has to eat sole- 
leather, fried in burnt grease, or eat bread 
that is as indigestible as pig-lead. A good, 
healthy body cannot be kept in running 
order when laden with a great burden that 
is daily reducing its strength, and sapping its 
life blood. When a bank has to draw daily 



222 How io Achieve Success. 

on its capital to meet running expenses, it 
is only a matter of time how long it can 
continue to do business. When one's sys- 
tem is tasked beyond its powers of endur- 
ance, that moment it begins to wear out. 

Good wholesome food, properly prepared, 
produces good blood, which nourishes brain, 
bone, and muscle. Happiness to every 
family has its headquarters in the culinary 
department. If the manipulations of the 
cooking process are at fault, the whole 
domestic economy will suffer, and unhap- 
piness follows. A fretful and restless child 
destroys much comfort and enjoyment of a 
household. All this is often occasioned by 
the indigestible food which the child is 
compelled to eat. It is simply inhuman to 
compel children to eat food that is unfit for 
them. We believe it would be a wise pro- 
vision of law that no girl could marry with- 
out having first passed an examination and 
received a diploma certifying to her quali- 
fications by experience and knowledge of 
the hygiene of the kitchen. We see no rea- 
son why laws should not be made to cover 
the proper preparation of food as well as 
the adulteration of it. It is due to the 
health of the community that only pure 
articles of food shall be sold and used; also 
that pure articles of food shall not be con- 
verted into poison. One is as bad as the 
other. The time is near at hand when it 



How to Achieve Success. 223 

will be fashionable and considered a great 
acquisition, to know how to prepare the 
choicest dishes for those in health, as also 
for the invalid; when the highest art will 
be, not to decorate a plate, but to prepare 
the food that is to fill it. Elegant dishes, 
with beautiful and appropriate designs, are 
pleasing to look upon, but will not satisfy 
the cravings of a hungry man, nor make a 
miserably cooked dinner one particle bet- 
ter. Muddy coffee will not taste any bet- 
ter though served in gold cups. 

A good English education and the 
knowledge of domestic economy, will add 
more to a young man's happiness than all 
the foreign languages or polite accomplish- 
ments that it is possible for any one young 
lady to be the mistress of. If a young 
lady's conversational powers are limited to 
a few stereotyped phrases, as "awful mean," 
"horrid," "ugly," etc., a little schooling 
would impart ability to use more elegant 
language. We have heard some very 
coarse expressions from ladies occupying 
costly mansions and living in good style. 
Such people purchase their libraries by the 
square yard, and estimate the value of the 
books by the quantity of gilt on the back of 
the covers, not by the contents. 



224 How to Achieve Success. 

UNHAPPILY MATED. 

I pity from my heart the unhappy man who has 
a bad wife. She is shackles on his feet, a palsy to 
his hands, a burden to his shoulder, smoke to his 
eyes, vinegar to his teeth, a thorn to his side, a 
dagger to his heart. — Osborne. 

We have said what we have on the dark 
side of wedded life, that each young man 
may realize the fact that it is all a lottery 
if he should marry on an evening's ac- 
quaintance. We know of a case where a 
young man courted and married a young 
lady without letting any of his friends know 
of his intention to marry. He thought he 
was doing a shrewd thing. He found that 
he had not done so well when, in two weeks 
after they were married, he had to carry 
his wife to an insane asylum. He had mar- 
ried into a family where insanity was hered- 
itary. He must either live with an insane 
wife or support her at the asylum. 

We know of two persons in Vermont 
who were married at an evening party, be- 
cause a justice offered to marry any couple 
without pay who would "stand up" then 
and there. Two fools "stood up," and were 
married. The longer they lived together 
the greater became their disgust over their 
foolishness. It proved to be a miserable 
union. 

A justice of the peace of Council Bluffs 
once performed a marriage ceremony, for 



How to Achieve Success. 225 

quite a lively and positive couple. When 
asked if she would "take this man as your 
lawful and wedded husband," the bride re- 
sponded, "You bet your life, judge, I will." 
When pronounced man and wife, the bride 
turned to the justice with a surprised look, 
and asked, "Is that all there is to the cere- 
mony for two dollars?" She evidently ex- 
pected a long ceremony and a big recep- 
tion, banquet and presents thrown in. 

In Massachusetts, in 1878, there were 
six hundred divorces, or one in every 
twenty-one marriages; Vermont one to 
every fourteen; Rhode Island one to every 
eleven; Connecticut one to seventeen. The 
figures are for legal divorces obtained, 
while the number of those couples who 
were self-divorced, or who lived a cat-and- 
dog life, would reduce the number of happy 
marriages to less than sixty to the one 
hundred. If we could have correct data to 
refer to, we presume we should find that 
the great majority entered into the mar- 
riage relation with little or no real personal 
acquaintance. The sixty thousand surplus 
females over the males in Massachusetts 
may have had something to do with hasty 
marriages, and the equally hasty divorces 
in that State. 

Any young man who is not willing to 
consult with his mother or sister on so im- 
portant a matter, will stand a good chance 



226 How to Achieve Success. 

of making an unfortunate alliance. Your 
mother or sister is better qualified than you 
to judge of a young lady's capabilities, and 
whether she has those traits of character 
and habits that would probably conduce to 
a happy union. If you refuse all advice, 
you cannot expect to receive any sympathy, 
should you make an unfortunate alliance. 

The best way for every young man is to 
"go slow" and consider well each move he 
makes towards a union for life. Neverthe- 
less there have been and are to-day some 
remarkable instances of that perfect unity 
in marriage which is stronger than death. 

THE KIND OF GIRL TO CHOOSE. 

"The true girl has to be sought for. She 
does not parade herself as show goods. 
She is not fashionable. Generally, she is 
not rich. But, oh! what a heart she has 
when you find her! so large and pure and 
womanly. When you see it, you wonder 
if those things which are so showy outside 
were really women. If you gain the love of 
the right girl, your thousands are millions. 
She'll not ask you for a carriage, or a first- 
class house. She'll wear simple dresses, 
and turn them when necessary, with no 
lofty magnifico to frown upon her 
economy. She'll keep everything neat and 
nice in your sky parlor, and give you such 



How to Achieve Success. 227 

a welcome when you come home that you'll 
think the parlor higher than ever. She'll 
entertain true friends on a dollar, and 
astonish you with the new thought, how 
little real happiness depends on money. 
She'll make you love home (if you don't 
you are a brute), and teach you how to 
pity, while you scorn, a poor, fashionable 
society that thinks itself rich, and vainly 
tries to think itself happy. 

"Now, do not, I pray you, say any more, 
4 1 can't afford to marry.' Go find the true 
woman, and be sure she can be found. 
Throw away that cigar, burn up that switch 
cane, be sensible yourself, and choose your 
wife in a sensible way." — Holmes. 

SOME OF THE EVIDENCES OF CONJUGAL 
FELICITY. 

He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who 
finds peace in his home. — Goethe. 

To Adam Paradise was home; to the good among 
his descendants, home is paradise. — Hare. 

The best way to judge of the happiness 
that has existed in a famiy is to see, when 
dissolved by death, how the husband has 
willed his property, or how the wife has 
disposed of hers. It is an unerring guide; 
as, for instance, the husband dies, willing 
all his property to his wife, making her the 



228 How to Achieve Success, 

sole executrix of his estate without bonds. 
Another leaves a small pittance to be doled 
out to his wife so long as she remains "his 
widow," but in the event of marriage, she 
is "cut off" from any further support. We 
know a gentleman who was not possessed 
of this world's goods, but his wife had a 
competence. She died, not leaving him a 
cent. 

We know of a gentleman who married a 
young lady, and died, leaving all his wealth 
to her, though she had not a child to care 
for. It was a fortune which she could not 
well spend during the remainder of her life, 
yet she has not found time to have a suit- 
able monument placed over his grave. She 
has had time to visit Europe several times, 
spending two or three years abroad. She 
is, no doubt, waiting for a new style of 
monument. Powers, Mills, Harriet Hos- 
mer, or Vinne Ream, are altogether too 
feeble in their conceptions of what is ap- 
propriate for tokens of buried hopes. She 
has had no time to care for the grave. 
Nature has had all the care. She has 
wasted no time on tear-drops, or in its 
decoration. She has had time, however, to 
marry a second husband, and if we can 
read human nature, we think he has by this 
time found out just what virtues his prede- 
cessor possessed, and what would be a 
suitable epitaph for the monument, if it is 



How to Achieve Success. 229 

ever erected. He probably has also learned 
that his name would be a lasting disgrace 
beside "my first husband," who was a good 
and true man. 

Look at another example: Mr. C. died, 
leaving no child, but bequeathing all his 
fortune to his wife. For ten long years, 
every day in the year, she visited the grave 
of her husband, if the weather was suitable, 
or her health would allow of it. Her lov- 
ing hands were ever busy beautifying the 
lot. Costly improvements were continually 
being made. Some new improvements 
were constantly under contemplation. 

The restriction by will of the widow, 
should she marry, exhibits a very ungen- 
erous spirit under the most charitable con- 
clusion, and indicates that there has been 
little happiness between man and wife. 
Contrast it with an instance of this kind: 
The wife was dying, she called her (hus- 
band to the bedside, and said, "Albert, you 
have been a good husband to me; have 
given me a beautiful home, better than I 
ever expected or deserved; you will miss 
me, the children will miss me, and you will 
be lonely when I am gone. The children 
will need some one to care for them, and 
when the proper time comes, I want you to 
marry again, to find some one to fill my 
place. It will be better for you; better for 
the children. There is my sister Alice, or 



230 How to Achieve Success. 

my dear friend Laura Adams, either one 
will make you a good companion. Prom- 
ise me you will do as I wish, and I shall 
die happy. If spirits are allowed to visit 
their friends, I will come to you and be 
your guardian angel. Do not put it off too 
long. When the wild flowers blossom over 
my grave, and the time of the singing of 
the birds has come again, it will be time to 
think of it. Kiss me once more — you need 
not speak, I know it will be well. Good- 
bye." 

The consciousness of being loved softens the 
keenest pang, even at the moment of parting; yes, 
even the farewell is robbed of half its bitterness 
when uttered in accents that breathe love to the 
last sigh. — Addison. 

We were recently in the city of Galves- 
ton, Texas, and visited the resting-place of 
the dead. There were no graves there, but 
tombs were built upon the surface of the 
ground. We stopped in front of one of 
these tombs, of fine architectural design, 
built of beautiful marble, which the master- 
hand of an artist had skilfully worked out. 
Thousands of dollars had been expended 
upon it. The door was a single slab of 
Italian marble, in the centre of which was 
placed a panel of glass, exposing the in- 
terior to view from the outside. Through 
the centre of the tomb extended a hall, or 



How to Achieve Success. 231 

passage-way, on either side of which were 
recesses for the reception of caskets con- 
taining the dead. Suspended from the cen- 
tre of the hallway hung a basket filled with 
the choicest of flowers. The rays of the sun 
lighted up the interior, dispelling all gloom. 
It was the palace-tomb of a beloved wife, 
erected by a sorrow-stricken husband. Her 
memory was there cherished by loving 
tokens of fresh and fragrant flowers daily 
brought and placed in the basket. 

We were acquainted with a gentleman in 
the State of Pennsylvania, who buried his 
wife some years ago, and it was impossible 
to be with him for an hour without his 
alluding to his great loss. He had been a 
man of active business habits, and for years 
before his wife died, she, if well, always 
went with him wherever his business called 
him. A happier couple probably could not 
be found anywhere. 

Instances are numerous where a couple 
have lived together fifty or sixty years, and 
when one has died the other has followed 
soon after, sometimes in a few hours, some- 
times in a day, and frequently in less than 
a week, so closely were the ties of affection 
entwined around their hearts. "They were 
lovely in their lives, and in their death they 
were not divided." 



232 How to Achieve Success. 



A WIFE TO HER HUSBAND. 

"One of us, dear — 

But one — 
Will sit by a bed with marvelous fear, 

And clasp a hand, 
Growing cold as it feels for the spirit-land — 

Darling, which one ? 

"One of us, dear — 

But one — 
Will stand by the other's coffin bier, 

And look and weep, 
While those marble lips strange silence keep — 

Darling, which one ? 

"One of us, dear — 

But one — 
By an open grave will drop a tear, 

And homeward go, 
The anguish of an unshared grief to know — 

Darling, which one ? 

"One of us, darling, it must be, 
It may be you will slip from me; 
Or perhaps my life may first be done — 
Which one?" 

Whoever marries for money may rest 
assured it will not guarantee a happy home. 
A young lady in Chicago, when asked by 
the officiating minister, "Will you love, 
honor, and obey this man as your husband, 
and be to him a true wife?" said plainly, 
'Yes, if he does what he promised to me, 
financially." Love didn't make that match. 
Love does not require any bargain. Love 



How to Achieve Success. 233 

ignores all conditions. "Confidence can- 
not dwell where selfishness is porter at the 
gate." 

"Wanted — a hand to hold my own, 
As down life's vale I glide; 
Wanted— an arm to lean upon, 
Forever by my side. 

i 'Wanted — a firm and steady foot, 
With step secure and free, 
To take its straight and onward pace, 
Over life's path with me. 

"Wanted — a form erect and high, 
A head above my own ; 
So much that I might walk beneath 
It's shadows o'er me thrown. 

"Wanted — an eye within whose depths 
Mine own might look, and see 
Uprising from a guileless heart, 
O'erfiown with love for me. 

"Wanted — a lip, whose kindest smile 
Would speak for me alone; 
A voice whose richest melody 
Would breathe affection's tone. 

"Wanted — a true, religious soul, 
To pious purpose given, 
With whom my own might pass along 
The road that leads to heaven." 

What can express true love better than 
the following? 

"For whither thou goest I will go; and 
where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy peo- 
ple shall be my people, and thy God my 
God; Where thou diest will I die, and there 
will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, 



234 How to Achieve Success. 

and more also, if aught but death part thee 
and me." 

If the Arab tradition be true, a person 
living single is only one-half of a complete 
being, and such persons cannot enjoy more 
than one-half of what there is to enjoy in a 
happy union. If to live single is for the 
best good of man, why was Eve created as 
a companion to Adam? To live single, 
voluntarily, is to question the edict of the 
Almighty, when He said, "It is not good 
that man should be alone." 

"How independent of money peace of conscience 
is, and how much happiness can be condensed intc 
the humblest home." 

NEWLY-MARRIED COUPLES. 

Of newly-married couples, the Golden 
Age has this to say: 

"It is the happiest, most virtuous state of 
society in which the husband and wife set 
out together, and with perfect sympathy of 
soul, graduate all their expenses, plans, 
calculations, and desires with reference to 
their present means and to their future and 
common interests. 

"Nothing delights man more than to en- 
ter the neat little tenement of the young 
people, who, within perhaps two or three 
years, without any resources but their own 
knowledge and industry, joined heart and 
hand, and engaged to share together the 



How to Achieve Success. 235 

responsibilities, duties, interests, trials, and 
pleasures of life. The industrious wife is 
cheerfully employing her hands in domes- 
tic duties, putting her house in order, or 
mending her husband's clothes, or prepar- 
ing the dinner, while perhaps the little dar- 
ling sits prattling on the floor or lies sleep- 
ing in the cradle, and everything seems 
preparing to welcome the happiest of hus- 
bands, and the best of fathers, when he 
shall come home from his toil to enjoy the 
sweets of his little paradise. 

But to see her was to love her, love but her, and 
love forever. — Burns. 

"This is the true domestic pleasure. 
Health, contentment, love, abundance, and 
bright prospects are all here. But it has 
become a prevalent sentiment that a man 
must acquire his fortune before he mar- 
ries—that the wife must have no sympathy 
nor share with him in the pursuit of it — in 
which most of the pleasure truly consists — 
and the young married people must set out 
with as large and expensive an establish- 
ment as is becoming those who have been 
wedded for twenty years. This is a lot 
that is very unhappy. It fills the commu- 
nity with bachelors, who are waiting to 
make their fortunes, endangering virtue, 
promoting vice; destroys the true economy 
and design of the domestic institution, and 



236 How to Achieve Success. 

it promotes inefficiency among females, 
who are expecting to be taken up by men 
who have fortunes and passively sustained 
without any care or concern on their part, 
and thus many a wife becomes, as a gentle- 
man once remarked, not a 'helpmeet,' but a 
a 'help-eat.' " 

"in ye olden time." 

The early settlers of Haverhill, Massa- 
chusetts, denied the right of any man to 
live alone, even if he chose to do so. Old 
bachelors couldn't do as they pleased then, 
in Haverhill, and the court went for them 
roughly. Here is the record: ''This court 
being informed that John Littlehale liveth 
alone, in a house by himself, contrary to 
the law of the country, whereby he is sub- 
ject to much sin," etc. So John was al- 
lowed six weeks to remove to "some or- 
derly family." But John was an incorrigible 
old bachelor, and wouldn't give up his 
way of living in single blessedness until 
forty-four years afterwards, when he mar- 
ried, and then probably found out how big 
a fool he had persistently been for forty- 
four years, at least. But they did worse 
than that to old maids — they hung some of 
them for witches. 

Ministers in those days were not so pros- 
trated with their church services, as a pre- 
siding elder of the African Methodist Epis- 



How to Achieve Success. 237 

copal church in Georgia was recently, when, 
at the close of a quarterly meeting, a couple 
presented themselves for marriage, he said 
to them, "Go away and wait until I come 
again; I am too tired to marry you now." 
No doubt he felt weaker than Oliver Wen- 
dell Holmes said he should be, when he 
answered a lecture committee thus: "The 
state of my health is such that if I should 
deliver my lecture before your lyceum, I 
would be so weak when I got through, that 
if you should tender me a fifty dollar bank- 
note I wouldn't have strength enough left 
to refuse it." 

Perhaps we have overdrawn the picture 
a little, and made it too sombre; yet no 
doubt, after all we have said, some young 
man will not heed our suggestions, and 
rush recklessly into the bonds of matri- 
mony! "A prudent man foreseeth the evil 
and hidet'h himself, but the simple pass on 
and are punished." 

Do not suppose that every home is des- 
titute of happiness. There are hundreds, 
thousands, of happy, very happy homes, 
where love reigns supreme. It does not re- 
quire a stately mansion, elegant furniture, 
plenty of servants, horses and carriages, 
and magnificent leisure, to make a happy 
home. 

Gold does not satisfy love; it must be paid in its 
own coin. — Madame Deluzy. 



238 How to Achieve Success. 



THERE IS NOTHING TOO GOOD FOR MAN. 

"I never saw a garment too fine for man 
or maid; there never was a chair too good 
for a cobbler, or a cooper, or a king to sit 
in; never a house too fine to shelter the 
human head. These elements about us, 
the glorious sky, the imperial sun, are not 
too good for the human race. Elegance 
fits man. But do we not value these tools 
for house-keeping a little more than they 
are worth, and sometimes mortgage a 
house for the mahogany we bring into it? 
I had rather eat my dinner off the head of 
a barrel, or dress after the fashion of John 
the Baptist in the wilderness, or sit on a 
block all my life, than consume all myself 
before I got to a home, and take so much 
pains with the outside that the inside was 
as hollow as an empty nut. Beauty is a 
great thing; but beauty of garment, house, 
and furniture are tawdry ornaments com- 
pared with domestic love. All the elegance 
in the world will not make a home, and I 
would give more for a spoonful of real 
hearty love than for whole ship-loads of 
furniture, and all the gorgeousness all the 
upholsterers in the world can gather." — Dr. 
Holmes. 

"Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing 
more courageous, nothing higher, nothing 
wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller, 



How to Achieve Success. 239 

or better in heaven and earth, because 
love is born of God, and cannot rest but 
in God, above all created things." — 
Thomas dKempis. 

Blest be Love, to whom we owe 
All that's bright and fair below; 
Song was cold and painting dim, 
Till song and painting learned from him. 
— Thomas Moore. 

Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies 
Deeply bnried from human eyes; 
And, in the hereafter, angels may 
Roll the stone from its grave away. 

— Whittier's Maud Mutter. 

By your truth she shall be true, 
Ever true, as wives of yore; 

And her yes, once said to you, 
Shall be YES for evermore. 

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 



A SONG FOR THE "HEARTH AND HOME." 

Dark is the night, and fitful and drearily 
Rushes the wind like the waves of the sea; 

Little care I, as here I sit cheerily, 

Wife at my side and my baby on knee. 

King! king! crown me the king! 

Home is the kingdom and Love is the king! 

Flashes the firelight upon the dear faces, 
Dearer and dearer and onward we go, 

Forces the shadow behind us, and places 

Brightness around us with warmth in the glow. 

King! king! crown me the king! 

Home is the kingdom and Love is the king! 



240 How to Achieve Success. 

Flashes the lovelight, increasing the glory, 
Beaming from bright eyes with warmth of the 
soul, 

Telling of trust and content the sweet story, 
Fighting the shadows that over us roll. 

King! king! crown me the king! 

Home is the kingdom and Love is the king! 

Richer than miser with perishing treasure, 

Served with a service no conquest could bring; 

Happy with fortune that words cannot measure, 
Light-hearted I on the hearthstone can sing. 

KingI king! crown me the king! 

Home is the kingdom and Love is the king! 

— Rev. William Rankin Duryea. 



How to Achieve Success. 241 



THE MAGNITUDE OF TRIFLES. 

We must learn to infuse sublimity into trifles. 
That is power. — Millet. 

Trifles lighter than straws are levers in the build- 
ing up of character. — Tupper. 

One of the prime causes of failure is the 
ignoring of small things in detail; the in- 
significant matters as they are styled. The 
forgetting or neglecting to dot an "i" or 
cross a "t" has swept away fortunes. The 
failure to close a door or to turn a key has 
laid great blocks of buildings in ashes, 
causing not only the loss of the property, 
but throwing hundreds of poor people out 
of employment. The old story of the loss 
of the nail from the shoe of the horse, 
where horse, rider, and battle were lost, is 
true, in fact, in a thousand ways. It is the 
grain of sand that turns the scale. It is 
the ounces that make the pounds, and the 
pounds that make the tons; the cents that 
make the dollars, and the dollars 
that make the fortunes. A flake of 
snow comes sailing gracefully down 
— "the beautiful snow." A breath will 
dissolve the falling flake into a drop, 
causing it to weep. Another and another 
of the tiny little white-winged messengers 
fall upon the ground, and in a little while 
everything is mantled in snowy drapery. 
16 



242 How to Achieve Success, 

How gracefully it sits upon the trees, hid- 
ing unsightly objects with its snowy white- 
ness. A charming sight! Look at a flake 
under a glass. What artist can design so 
unique a pattern? It is perfection. They 
keep coming. The winged messengers are 
light as feathers. They drop upon the 
roofs of all the buildings, each little flake 
adding its mite. Happy children! They lie 
down close together in their downy bed. 
No quarreling, as silently they take their 
places, adding slowly to the weight, until 
down goes the roof upon the worshipers 
below, and scores are crushed to death. 
Many people are crippled for life by the 
"beautiful snow," that came so noiselessly 
down and rested upon the roof. 

The iron horse sweeps through the 
fleecy whiteness, whirling and crushing the 
beautiful crystals under its heavy wheels. 
It laughs to see them light upon its hot 
boiler, and dissolve in tears. They come 
down all the same, and cover the track. 
The iron horse begins to tire, as the snow 
packs around the rails, and from a forty- 
mile pace it comes down to twenty, to ten, 
to one, to a dead stop. It is "snow-bound," 
and can go neither forward nor backward. 
It snorts and puffs and blows, but it can- 
not move. The snow has bound it fast; it 
is a prisoner. So silently and impercep- 
tibly influences for good or evil gather 



How to Achieve Success. 243 

around one's footsteps. Only by watching 
closely the pathway can we know whither 
they are leading us. 

TRIFLES LITTLE THINGS. 

There is nothing insignificant — nothing. 

— Coleridge. 
What mighty contests rise from trivial things! 

— Pope. 

Trifles lighter than air turn the scales for 
weal or woe, deciding the destinies of na- 
tions and of individuals. The greatest 
events in the world's history turned on the 
smallest pivot. There are no such things 
as little things, or little moments, when 
weighed in the scales of mighty possibili- 
ties. The briefest point of time marked by 
the ticking of the clock is fraught with 
momentous consequences, and there are 
often crowded into one of those brief spaces 
of time the greatest events of the world's 
history. It is but yes or no that sheathes the 
sword or draws it, to deluge the world in 
blood. It was but the falling of a tear-drop 
that made Washington the father of his 
country, the first president of the United 
States. It is but the moving of a lever a 
few inches that saves a train from a plunge 
into the abyss. It is only the breaking of 
a hair-spring in a conductor's or engineer's 
watch, but the stopping of that watch is 
the cause of two crowded express trains, 



244 How to Achieve Success. 

under fearful headway, coming together; 
an awful wreck results — the wounded and 
the dying fill the air with their wails of 
pain and anguish. The effect of the break- 
ing of so small a thing as the hair-spring 
of a watch, is felt around the world; tears 
and sorrow darken scores of 'nappy homes, 
mourning for the loved ones who are never 
to return; happy families are scattered to 
meet no more, and tender feet must travel 
life's rough journey alone, in sorrow's 
darkening pathway. 

THE CHICAGO FIRE. 

The morning after the great fire that laid 
Chicago in ashes, we walked amid the 
ruins of palatial residences, elegant 
churches, stately hotels, and the great 
blocks of the merchant princes, viewing 
the desolation. Here and there a tall col- 
umn or chimney stood in solemn solitude 
— monuments of departed glory and 
blasted hopes. Streets were blocked and 
made impassable by the debris. It baffled 
all description. Desolation and ruin 
reigned supreme. At night the scene 
changed. The blackness and darkness 
were lighted as by ten thousand camp-fires, 
blazing from ten thousand cellars, from 
coal that had been laid in for winter; while 
on the wharves acres of anthracite coal 
were one living mass of fire, casting a 



How to Achieve Success. 245 

weird and ghostly glare that was hideous 
to behold. This terrible calamity, the 
burning up of twenty-one hundred acres of 
costly business blocks and happy homes, 
all came from the burning of a little cow- 
stable, fired by a cow kicking over a lamp. 
One little match lighted the lamp. Sev- 
eral hundred million dollars worth of prop- 
erty was consumed, many lives were lost 
in the conflagration, and hundreds died 
from the terrible ordeal through which 
they passed. Thousands of happy homes 
were broken up and ruined. Business men 
— men who had made their fortunes and re- 
tired to spend their days in quiet enjoyment 
of delightful homes, were ruined, made 
penniless and dependent on charity for 
bread and shelter. Broken-hearted, some 
became insane; others committed suicide. 
This awful calamity was the result of firing 
a single match! Whisky lighted the 
match. Friends from the "old country" 
must be entertained; a milk-punch must 
be made, and Mother O'Leary's cow must 
furnish the milk; and the cow was waited 
upon. New hands attempted to do the 
milking; the cow objected, and let her heels 
fly, and the lamp was broken. A match, 
a stroke of the hand, so little a thing, a 
flash, and it is done. What possibilities 
are crowded into a single beat of the pen- 
dulum. 



246 How to Achieve Success. 

A CITY DESTROYED. 

Many years ago a stout wall or dyke was 
built on the coast of Holland to keep out 
the sea from the low lands, which became 
the homes of happy families and indus- 
trious farmers. A city was built there. 
Everybody dwelt apparently in perfect se- 
curity. Suddenly the dyke gave way, and 
the sea rolled in upon the farmers, quickly 
swallowing up their lands and homes. The 
waves rolled against the city. Great 
blocks of buildings went down before their 
resistless fury. Every succeeding wave rose 
higher and higher, accumulating greater 
power as it rolled on. What one-half hour 
before were beautiful fields of waving grain, 
happy homes, the thronged streets and 
crowded market-places of a great city sud- 
denly became the home of the sea. The 
noise and bustle of the city were hushed 
into silence. As the great waves rolled on 
in their grandeur, they chanted a requiem 
over the dead buried beneath their waters, 
in the deep diapason of old ocean. The 
low, sad wail of woe was wafted landward, 
over hill and dale, and the mantle of 
mourning was seen everywhere in Hol- 
land. For a century tears ceased not to 
fall over buried hopes and bright anticipa- 
tions, for a morrow that came not. And 
why this awful calamity? A little animal — 



How to Achieve Success. 247 

a muskrat — digs a hole in the dyke, and 
the water follows it and trickles through 
the dyke. A handful of clay would have 
closed it up. It increases in size by the 
wearing of the water. Nobody is alarmed; 
no attention is paid to it. By and by the 
tide rolls in; the dyke yields to the pres- 
sure, and the little hole of the muskrat be- 
comes an immense gateway to let the 
floods in upon the careless inhabitants. 
Too late they awake from their sleepy 
lethargy. 

"Temples, towers, and domes of many stories, 
There lie buried in an ocean grave, 
Undescribed, save when the golden glories 
Gleam at sunset through the lighted wave." 

It was but a little thing that opened the 
way for the sea. It is but a little thing 
that turns a young man from the right to 
the wrong. It is but a little word, a little 
deed, at the right or the wrong time, that 
leads on to momentous results for good or 
evil. The great scales turn on a very small 
pivot; great events hinge upon the tick of 
the watch, the swing of the pendulum. 

FOURTH OF JULY TIME. 

The city of Portland, Maine, was visited 
by a most disastrous fire on one Fourth of 
July. A little boy lights a fire-cracker, 
gives it a "send-off," and it falls upon the 
roof of a house. The wind fans it into a 



248 How to Achieve Success. 

blaze; it burns the house; the wind drives 
the sparks to adjoining houses, setting 
them on fire. The wind increases, and 
sweeps the fire along furiously; it leaps 
from house to house, from street to street, 
until a great portion of the city is in ashes. 
The glorious Fourth ends in a night of sad- 
ness, of sorrow, of desolation, and death. 
Hundreds of happy homes and happy fam- 
ilies are ruined. The effect of that little 
boy's fun was felt that day and to-day, and 
will be felt for all time. It killed the bright- 
est hopes of thousands, took from them 
their property, their all. Happy families 
were broken up — some of the members 
carried to their last resting-places; others 
were left to linger in pain and sorrow, 
while some became insane and went to the 
State asylum, raving maniacs, and some 
committed suicide. One little act of one 
little boy with one little fire-cracker and 
one little match, set in motion a tremen- 
dous train of events. What are trifles 
when weighed in the scales of mighty pos- 
sibilities? The least divergence of a mil- 
lionth part of an inch at the outset may 
lead to infinite separation in the end. 

A worm is a trifle when compared with a 
lion or a whale, yet it has sunk many a 
ship with its little auger. The little insect 
that builds the coral reefs on the bottom of 
the ocean is possessed of but little physical 



How to Achieve Success. 249 

strength. Yet it works on until it forms a 
sea-wall over which the great ships can- 
not sail, and many have been lost by run- 
ning on these reefs. 

A lame man was walking in Pittsburg 
one day, when the walks were slippery, 
and he fell, and his hat rolled along the 
sidewalk. A boy came along and gave it a 
kick, sending it out into the street. 
Another boy came along, helped the poor 
man up, picked up his hat, and assisted 
him to his hotel. He asked the boy his 
name, and thanked him for his kindness 
and assistance. One day, about a month 
after, there came a draft for one thousand 
dollars for the boy who didn't kick the 
lame man's hat. It was a little thing, but 
it paid. 

The creating of a thousand forests is in one 
acorn . — Emerson. 

It has been calculated that if a single 
grain of wheat produces fifty grains in one 
year's growth, and these and succeeding 
crops be counted, and yield proportion- 
ately, the produce of the twelfth year would 
suffice to supply all the inhabitants of the 
earth for a life-time. In twelve years the 
single grain will have multiplied itself 244,- 
140,625,000,000 times. 

A grain of sand leads to the fall of a mountain, 
when the moment has come for the mountain to 
fall. — Ernest Renan. 



250 How to Achieve Success. 

DISCOVERY OF STEAM. 

About one hundred and thirty years ago 
a little boy came in from play, and sat down 
on a bench in the chimney-corner of his 
mother's kitchen, "tired and hungry." 
While waiting and watching his mother 
prepare the supper, his attention was at- 
tracted to the singing of the tea-kettle, 
which hung on the crane over the fire in 
the old-fashioned fire-place. Soon the 
water within was boiling, and hot steam 
poured out of the nose of the kettle. As 
the water became hotter, it generated 
steam faster than it could escape out of 
the nose, and it forced up the lid and kept 
it dancing to the music of the escaping 
vapor as it rose and fell. Soon the supper 
was ready, and all the family, except the 
little boy, were seated at the table and had 
commenced eating. 

Several times the mother had called her 
little boy to "come to supper, Jimmy," but 
Jimmy did not come, and she wondered 
why he did not, when he was so tired and 
hungry. Quietly she left the table, and 
stepped to the kitchen door, which was 
standing ajar, and looked in to see what 
"that boy was up to." He was still sitting 
on the bench spell-bound watching the 
"steaming kettle" and its "dancing lid." 
His inquisitive mind was trying to solve 



How to Achieve Success. 25 r 

the reason why the tea-kettle lid should 
keep "hopping up and down." He solved 
the mystery by discovering that it was from 
, the power that was in the steam. He was 
the first one to "harness up" this new- 
found power, and bid it to "turn the 
wheel;" and from that day to this it has not 
refused to obey the order with alacrity. 

So to that little boy, James Watt, sitting 
on a bench in the chimney-corner, waiting 
for his supper, the world is indebted for the 
discovery of the power there is in steam. 
And what a mighty power! Think what a 
change there would be in the world if the 
power of steam were lost! Every wheel,, 
every shaft, every spindle now driven by 
steam would come to a standstill; the hum 
of the manufactories of the world would be 
hushed into silence; millions of people 
would be thrown out of employment, mil- 
lions would be driven to starvation, to 
death. A greater calamity it is hardly pos- 
sible to conceive. 

Steam not only affords employment to a 
host of people, but it is a great civilizer of 
nations; it is the world's best educator. 
Wherever goes the "steam wagon," there 
go with it light and intelligence, dispelling 
the ignorance and superstition of the 
darker ages 



.25 2 How to Achieve Success. 

ELECTRICITY ITS POWER. 

Dr. Franklin sent up his little silk kite 
to the clouds, while a thunder-storm was 
passing over the city of Philadelphia. A 
frail string held the kite under his control. 
He placed a door-key on the string, and 
with that key he unlocked the doors to a 
new world — the world of electricity — and 
he left them unlocked. Dr. Morse was 
anxious to explore this new world, and to 
become acquainted with its elements. He 
soon analyzed its peculiarities — its skill to 
"play upon the wires," its willingness to 
become a very obedient servant, and he 
"harnessed up the lightning." He in- 
vented an automatic machine, which 
recorded each pulsation as it ran to and 
fro upon its course. It became the swift 
messenger of thought, and wires now en- 
circle the globe and swift as the light- 
ning's flash, send tidings around the world. 
To Professors Gray, Bell, and Edison is 
accredited the honor of making it "talk," 
not in one language only, but with equal 
fluency, in any language that may be used. 
It is a ready messenger for all, at all sea- 
sons, anywhere — over trackless deserts, 
over mountains, or under oceans. Neither 
heat nor cold impedes its flight. It never 
grows weary. 

The telephone is the "mystery of mys- 



How to Achieve Success. 255. 

teries." How the voice sweeps along the 
wire, through storm and tempest, passing 
by all the babel and noise of a great city, 
and yet does not lose its way or become 
confused or unrecognizable as it enters a 
quiet home, is to us incomprehensible. 
Electricity, instead of being a dreaded foe 
to mankind, has proved to be our best 
friend and servant — one with which we 
cannot dispense. It may have in store for 
us still greater good yet undeveloped. It is 
to be the great illuminator, to light up the 
darkest night into the dazzling brilliancy 
of the sun in its strength. It is invaluable 
as a remedial agent. 

Yet the greatest marvel is still to come. 
The telephone permits us to converse with 
friends hundreds of miles away, but the 
newly-discovered diaphone brings friends 
face to face, so that we can not only hear 
their voices, but see them as well. It is too 
incredible to believe, but the fact is never- 
theless affirmed. What would Franklin 
and Morse say, could they return to earth 
and see what wonderful advances have 
been made in the uses and appliances of 
electricity since they left the world? And 
yet how insignificant were the appliances 
by which Dr. Franklin obtained a prac- 
tical demonstration of the adaptability of 
this marvelous agent to become so willing 
a servant to man. How immense is the 



254 How to Achieve Success. 

wealth it has added to the world's assets! 
It is abundant, it pervades all space, and is 
free as the mountain air. Speculators can- 
not get up "a corner" on lightning. They 
can patent as many "harnesses" as they 
please, but they cannot "chain up" the 
lightning, or put it under a padlock. Noth- 
ing in the forces of nature surpasses elec- 
tricity in its intrinsic value to the welfare 
of the human race. 

There are no "little things," when linked 
to the mighty possibilities enveloped in the 
unknown future. No discovery in nature 
dwindles away as its secrets are unfolded 
and revealed to human conception; but 
each step raises humanity to a greater and 
grander existence as it is unfolded to our 
comprehension. So it will be for all time, 
to all eternity. 

In 1866 the emperor of Russia had a 
narrow escape from assassination as he 
was about to step into his carriage. An 
assassin had leveled his revolver at the czar, 
when his arm was instantly struck up by a 
serf standing near, and the pistol was dis- 
charged in the air. In the evening the serf 
was brought into the presence of the em- 
peror, and by him informed that he had 
been elevated to the rank and dignity of a 
nobleman. It was a trifling thing for the 
serf to do. but he was magnificently paid 
by being forever after a Russian nobleman. 



How to Achieve Success. 255 



SMALL BEGINNINGS. 

A traveler through a dusty road strewed acorns on 
the lea, 

And one took root and sprouted up, and grew into 
a tree. 

Love sought its shade at evening-time, to breathe 
its early vows ; 

And age was pleased, in heats of noon, to bask be- 
neath its boughs ; 

The dormouse loved its dangling twigs, the birds 
sweet music bore ; 

It stood a glory in its place, a blessing evermore. 

A little spring had lost its way amid the grass and 

fern, 
A passing stranger scooped a well, where weary 

men might turn ; 
He walled it in, and hung with care a ladle at the 

brink ; 
He thought not of the deed he did, but judged that 

toil might drink. 
He passed again, and lo! the well, by summers 

never dried, 
Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues, and 

saved a life beside. 

A dreamer dropped a random thought ; 'twas old, 
and yet 'twas new ; 

A simple fancy of the brain, but strong in being 
true, 

It shone upon a genial mind, and lo! its light be- 
came 

A lamp of life, a beacon ray, a monitory flame. 

The thought was small ; its issue great ; a watch- 
fire on the hill ; 

It sheds its radiance far adown, and cheers the 
valley still ! 



256 How to Achieve Success. 

A nameless man, amid a crowd that thronged the 
daily mart, 

Let fall a word of hope and love, unstudied, from 
the heart ; 

A whisper on the tumult thrown — a transitory- 
breath — 

It raised a brother from the dust ; it saved a soul 
from death. 

O germ! O fount! O word of love! O thought at 
random cast! 

Ye were but little at the first, but mighty at the 
last. 

— Charles Mackay. 



1 ' The inspiration of a thought, the magic of a 
word — how tnomentous. ' ' 

action! action!! action!!! 

Action is the highest perfection and drawing 
forth of the utmost power, vigor, and activity of 
man's nature. — South. 

Act well at the moment, and you have performed 
a good action to all eternity. — Lavater. 

"There is always room for a man of force, and 
he makes room for many. " 

Heaven ne'er helps the man who will not act. 

— Sophocles. 

It is action that wins. Action is every- 
thing. People dying of ennui never ac- 
complish anything, but block up the way of 
others who are trying to strike out for 
themselves. We are sick, heart-sick of that 
class who hang around and grunt, and 
whine, and do nothing for themselves or 
anybody else. 



How to Achieve Success. 257 

The spirit that nerves one up to do his 
best, in whatever place or avocation he 
may be engaged, is worthy of the highest 
praise. To excel, to do a little better to- 
day than yesterday, is commendable. Hit- 
ting the mark counts one ahead. The leap 
that carries you an inch beyond any 
previous record, is a mark in your favor. 
Ambition to do good, to develop one's 
talents to their utmost capacity, is praise- 
worthy. Ambition controlled by right 
motives never harms any one. Linked to 
patriotism, it makes heroes and martyrs. 
What a noble example in Admiral 
Farragut at the battle of Mobile 
Bay, when he ascended the rig- 
ging, and was lashed to the mast, there 
to remain until the battle was lost or won! 
What courage it must have inspired in his 
men on deck to see their commander above 
them exposed to the sharp-shooters of the 
enemy, with no chance to shield himself .or 
escape! He was there to direct the battle 
and face the deadly fire of the enemy. If 
his vessel went down, he must go down 
with it. 

A sacred burden is the life ye bear, 
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly, 
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly. 
Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, 
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win. 
— Frances Anne Kemble. 



258 How to Achieve Success. 

EXAMPLES OF HEROISM. 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
There are heroes in evil as well as in good. 

— Rochefaucauld. 

The Vendome column of Paris was 
erected by the French government in 
honor of Napoleon Bonaparte. Twelve 
hundred cannon, captured from the Aus- 
trians, were melted down to form a spiral 
relief which wreathed the column from top 
to bottom, portraying the scenes, and giv- 
ing the names of the great battles won by 
the emperor. Upon its top was placed a 
statue of Napoleon in Roman costume. 
Many times since its first erection has the 
statue been thrown down, and as often re- 
placed, until in 1875 the column was blown 
into fragments by the French people, who 
had learned to look upon it with derision. 
Time had wrought such changes in the 
hearts of the French that they could no 
longer look with complacency upon a 
monument erected to commemorate the 
name and fame of a despot, whose bound- 
less ambition trampled upon human rights 
without mercy, and lowered in the dust 
the high and low, regardless of creed or 
nationality, if they stood in the way of his 
individual advancement. The heartless- 
ness of this man seems incredible. That 
he should cruelly drive from him his beau- 



How to Achieve Success. 259 

tiful and accomplished wife, Josephine, as 
lovely a woman as ever graced the palace 
halls of the Tuileries, is something beyond 
comprehension. No language seems ade- 
quate to express condemnation for such an 
act. Yet his life was but a repetition of 
similar deeds of cruelty. Who but Napo- 
leon could have condemned to death a sol- 
dier who finished and sealed a letter to his 
wife after the time of night when lights 
were ordered to be extinguished, and who, 
when detected, was compelled to break the 
seal and to insert these words as a post- 
script: "I die to-morrow at sunrise, for 
disobedience of orders"? Such men, for- 
tunately, are rare in these days; yet Napo- 
leon's inordinate ambition, which impelled 
him to exercise such inhumanity, has its 
counterpart in every age; and even in our 
own times men equally ambitious, and 
equally ready to level all before them to 
subserve their own selfish purposes, may 
be found in every community. 

We insert the following stanzas from 
Bryan's poem on "Napoleon," which most 
graphically portray the life and character 
of the world's greatest tyrant, controlled 
by an unholy ambition: 

'Tis done — but yesterday a king! 

And armed with kings to strive — 
And now thou art a nameless thing, 

So abject — yet alive! 



260 How to Achieve Success. 

Is this the man of thousand thrones, 
Who strewed our earth with hostile bones 

And can he thus survive ? 
Since he, miscalled the Morning Star, 
Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far. 



And Earth has spilled her blood for him, 

Who thus can hoard his own! 
And monarchs bowed the trembling limb, 

And thanked him for a throne! 
Fair Freedom! may we hold thee dear, 
When thus thy mightiest foes their fear 

In humblest guise have shown. 
O, ne'er may tyrant leave behind 
A brighter name to lure mankind! 

Thine evil deeds are writ in gore, 

Nor written thus in vain ; 
Thy triumphs tell of fame no more, 

Or deepen every stain. 
If thou hadst died as honor dies, , 

Some new Napoleon might arise, 

To shame the world again ; 
But who would soar the solar height, 
To set in such a starless night ? 

Weighed in the balance, hero dust 

Is vile as vulgar clay ; 
Thy scales, Mortality! are just 

To all that pass away ; 
But yet methought the living great 
Some higher spark should animate, 

To dazzle and dismay ; 
Nor deemed contempt could thus make mirth 
Of these, the conquerors of the earth. 



How to Achieve Success. 261 

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. 

Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be 
strong. — Longfellow. 

No pain, no palm ; no thorn, no throne ; no gall, 
no glory ; no cross, no crown. — William Penn. 

When the Crimean war was in progress, 
there was wafted westward across the con- 
tinent to England, a wail of woe and dis- 
tress, such as was never heard before by 
any civilized people. It came from her sick 
and wounded soldiers, as they lay uncared 
for on the battle-field. There were no hos- 
pitals, no hospital supplies, no nurses, and 
the poor soldiers were dying from sheer 
and cruel neglect. England was alarmed, 
as the ranks of her army were melting 
away by the fearful mortality among her 
troops. The sad wail, and the moans of 
the sick and dying, were heard by a highly 
accomplished young lady in her home of 
luxury and refinement where she was sur- 
rounded by every comfort wealth could 
command, or loving friends could devise. 
Instantly she responded to the call of the 
suffering and dying soldiers on the field of 
battle. Enlisting two hundred assistants, 
she bade adieu to her happy home and lov- 
ing friends, and with alacrity hurried to 
the field of carnage and death, where shot 
and shell had done their cruel work. At 
the sight of the awful scenes in that "valley 



2o2 How to Achieve Success. 

of death," she faltered not. The ghastly 
dead, the mangled and shattered wrecks of 
the human form — made so by the death- 
dealing missiles of the enemy, had no ter- 
rors that could affright her, when duty and 
humanity called. The terrible suffering of 
the sick and wounded, the agonizing cries 
of those who had passed beyond the reach 
of human aid, brought to her view scenes 
never to be forgotten. The sickening 
stench of decomposing bodies only added 
to the horrors of the situation. It 
was enough to appall the stoutest 
heart and destroy nerves of iron. 
She went among the dead to find 
the living — kneeling down amid corpses 
to administer relief, with all the tenderness 
of a mother's love or a sister's devotion to 
some poor soldier who had fallen among 
the dead. The rough dragoon, or the 
young drummer-boy, some mother's darl- 
ing, received alike her utmost care and at- 
tention. 

"Sairey Gamp and Betsey Prig never 
raised themselves and their class to the 
level of the clever and competent nurses 
who now come to us in our sickness. It 
was reserved for a gentlewoman, Florence 
Nightingale, to do this. But when she 
startled the world by her self-denial, 
courage, and ability, other women, as well 
born and delicately nurtured, soon stepped 



How to Achieve Success. 263 

into the gaps where they were so greatly 
needed. The 'craze,' as it was first called, 
never died out, and to that one woman we 
owe our present valuable trained nurses 
and sisters." — M. E. Soyer, in the London 
Standard. 

Hundreds, thousands, lived to bless the 
name of Florence Nightingale. No monu- 
ment is needed to immortalize her name. 
Her memory will be held in grateful re- 
membrance long after the name of Napo- 
leon shall have been forgotten. Her labors 
were not passed by unrewarded. A gift of 
fifty thousand pounds was made to her as 
a slight testimonial of her invaluable ser- 
vices. But her last noble act was the 
crowning glory of a beautiful life: she gave 
the entire sum given her to the founding of 
an institution for the education and train- 
ing of nurses. She sacrificed every com- 
fort, a delightful home and its enjoyments, 
her health and all the pleasures of life, that 
others might live, rescued from the very 
jaws of death on the battle-fields of Inker- 
mann and Balaklava. Look at her life- 
work, and compare it with Napoleon's. 
Which of the two was the nobler? 

EVERY-DAY HEROES. 

A steamer on Lake Michigan, crowded 
with passengers, caught fire, and while 
every effort was being made to extinguish 



264 How to Achieve Success. 

the flames, the captain ordered the pilot to 
head for land, and to "hold fast to the 
helm." The fire was soon past all control. 
The passengers were terrified, as the flames 
were consuming all before them, and driv- 
ing them into closer quarters. The only 
hope for them was in the pilot's being able 
to remain at his post, and the engines con- 
tinuing to work until land was reached. 
Flame and smoke enveloped the pilot- 
house, hiding the pilot from view. Every 
few moments the captain would call out to 
the pilot, "John, are you there?" Every 
time came back the response, "Aye, aye, 
sir." The wildest excitement distracted the 
passengers. The intense heat was narrow- 
ing down their chances of reaching land, 
which was their only hope of escaping a 
terrible death by fire or water. Again the 
captain called to the pilot to know if he was 
there, and "Aye, aye, sir," was heard above 
the roar of the flames. The captain asked, 
"Can you hold on five minutes longer?" 
The answer came back, "By the help of 
God, I will try, sir." As the last passenger 
took the gang-plank and was safely on 
shore, the heroic spirit of John Maynard 
went heavenward. 

A watchman on a draw-bridge knew that 
the express train was coming around the 
curve, just as his little boy had fallen from 
his side into the boiling current below. 



How to Achieve Success. 265 

Should he save his child or save the train and 
its living freight, were the alternative pre- 
sented to him for immediate decision. The 
boy was struggling in the water, and call- 
ing to his father for help; a moment more 
and the oncoming train will be thrown into 
the river, if the bridge is not closed. The 
watchman swings the bolts that move the 
draw; the train with its hundreds of pas- 
sengers rushes on just as it closes, and is 
saved. The father looks for his boy, but 
he is gone — a sacrifice to duty. What 
more sublime instance of true heroism than 
this can be found? 

In a village upon one side of the Alps 
lived a little crippled boy, by the name of 
Fritz. One day the villagers went out 
from their homes for a picnic. Fritz was 
too lame to go, and therefore he alone out 
of all the villagers remained at home. 
When the picnickers were in the height of 
their enjoyment, it was discovered that a 
"signal fire" had been lighted above their 
village, which was the usual signal that an 
enemy was approaching. The villagers 
hastened back to the village just in time to 
save their homes from spoliation. The 
mystery to them was, who could have 
"fired the pile." Fritz was missing from 
his home. The people searched every- 
where for him, and at last he was discov- 
ered near the burning pile, dead; killed by 



266 How to Achieve Success. 

the invading horde, in revenge for having 
discovered their approach and given the 
alarm. On his hands and knees he had 
crawled up the mountain side and lighted 
the signal fire. Was not he a greater hero 
than Napoleon Bonaparte? 

A TRUE HERO. 

The city of Marseilles, in France, was 
once afflicted with the plague. So terrible 
was it that it caused parents to forsake 
children, and children forgot their obliga- 
tions to their own parents. The city be- 
came as a desert, and funerals were con- 
stantly passing through its streets. Every- 
body was sad, for nobody could stop the 
ravages of the plague. The physicians 
could do nothing and as they met one day 
to talk over the matter and see if some- 
thing could not be done to prevent this 
great destruction of life, it was decided that 
nothing could be effected without dissect- 
ing a corpse in order to find out the mys- 
terious character of the disease. All agreed 
upon the need, but all knew that the man 
who did the work would contract the dis- 
ease and die. Who would dare be the vic- 
tim? There was a dead pause. Suddenly 
one of the most celebrated physicians, a 
man in the prime of life, rose from his 
seat and said, "Be it so; I devote myself 
for the safety of my country. Before this 



How to Achieve Success. 267 

numerous assembly I swear, in the name 
of humanity and religion, that to-morrow, 
at the break of day, I will dissect a corpse, 
and write down as I proceed what I ob- 
serve." He immediately left the room, 
and as he was rich, he made a will, and 
spent the night in religious exercises. Dur- 
ing the day a man had died of the plague 
in his house, and at daybreak on the fol- 
lowing morning the physician, whose name 
was Guyon, entered the room, and crit- 
ically made the necessary examinations, 
writing down all his surgical observations. 
He then left the room, threw the papers 
into a vase of vinegar, that they might not 
convey the disease to another, and retired 
to a quiet place, where he died in twelve 
hours. Was not this a true hero? While 
we all admire the bravery which appears on 
the battle-field, let us not forget that there 
is opportunity also for the heroic in other 
places. 

In the city of Paris, several men were at 
work on a scaffold, many feet above the 
pavement. Suddenly the scaffold broke, 
and all but two of the men were dashed to 
pieces on the pavement below. These two 
men had caught hold of a ledge, and before 
they could be rescued from their perilous 
position, the ledge began to weaken. It 
would not bear the weight of both. One 
man said to the other, "I have several small 



268 How to Achieve Success. 

children dependent on me for support; you 
let go." The young man says, "Is that 
so?" "Yes," said the elder man. The 
young man let go; and that night there 
was joy in one household when "father 
came home." 

frank Hamilton's tragic death. 

A fire broke out one night in a large 
block, and in a short time the whole build- 
ing was enveloped in flames. After it had 
been abandoned, and the goods that could 
not be removed left to the flames, what was 
the horror of the spectators to see a young 
man rush past and run up a flight of stairs, 
amid fire and smoke, while the walls were 
already tottering on their foundation, ready 
to fall in a moment. The impression was 
that it was for a suicidal purpose that the 
young man rushed into the burning build- 
ing. In a moment or two he was seen 
coming down stairs with a little tin trunk 
in one hand, with his clothes on fire and 
his hair burned from his head. "What a 
fool," said one, "to jeopardize his life for 
that box, even were it full of gold." The 
young man had not got a safe distance 
when the building fell. He also fell, over- 
come with the excitement and unable to 
speak. The crowd gathered around him, 
and he was recognized as Frank Hamilton. 
They took him up in their arms and bore 



How to Achieve Success. 269 

him tenderly to his home. All the while 
his right hand clutched firmly the handle of 
the box, and could not be unclasped. The 
only words he spoke were, "I save my 

rep ," and died. It was six months 

before the mysterious words, the unfin- 
ished sentence, could be completed, and 
how the five hundred dollars in the tin 
trunk came to be in his possession. Frank 
was a student in Mr. Lowe's law office. 
Mr. Lowe was away the day of the fire. 
Frank was alone in the office, engaged in 
copying some court papers, which had to 
be completed that night. Soon after he 
opened the office a gentleman, a client of 
Mr. Lowe's, came up stairs hurriedly, and 
inquired for Mr. Lowe, and learning he 
was away, said to Frank, "You can do the 
business for me just as well. I have a note 
of five hundred dollars due to-morrow at 
the bank. As to-morrow is Sunday, it must 
be paid to-day. Here is the money, and 
when the bank opens please pay the note, 
and hold it until I return. I am on my way 
to Boston by the first train, and am to sail 
for Liverpool at 12 o'clock. Good-bye." 
It is supposed that Frank, in his anxiety to 
have the papers completed before Mr. 
Lowe's return, forgot all about the note 
and money until he heard the alarm of fire. 
Then remembering the money was locked 
up in the office instead of the bank where 



270 How to Achieve Success. 

he was to have deposited it, he made the 
daring endeavor to save it, or die in the 
attempt, so that his reputation should not 
be tarnished by a breath of suspicion. He 
died a hero — a martyr — went down to his 
grave with a reputation unsullied. Over- 
work explained his apparent forgetfulness 
of the note and money entrusted to his 
care. He willingly put his life in the bal- 
ance to correct the mistake. The remem- 
brance of such noble young men, like 
Frank Hamilton, who have chosen death 
to dishonor, will live, while the names of 
the low and vulgar will rot. Mrs. Hamil- 
ton's mind dwelt upon Frank's untimely 
and tragic death, and the more she grieved 
and mourned over it, the greater seemed 
the burden of her sorrow. It was he whose 
place in the family was afterward filled by 
James Noxx, whose story is told in a 
previous article. 

If "to be living is sublime," is there not 
a sublimity in dying when through death 
the way is opened for a fellow-mortal from 
the mire to a higher and better life? 



How to Achieve Success. 271 



SUBLIMITY OF A PURPOSE. 

He who lives to no purpose lives to a bad pur- 
pose. — Nevins. 

If we carefully investigate the works of 
nature, the heavens in their nightly 
grandeur, the celestial panorama, we are 
compelled to acknowledge that they are 
the work of a master hand — a divine Archi- 
tect, who spake and a world was ushered 
forth from a night of chaos, and took its 
place amid that vast system of circling orbs. 
Every atom of matter is permeated with 
life, infused with a ceaseless activity. Noth- 
ing in this world of created matter is abso- 
lutely at rest, dead, or wrapped in an end- 
less stupor, nor even asleep — but every 
particle of dust beneath our feet is vital- 
ized with a life-giving force, working in 
perfect harmony with all created matter, 
accomplishing the will of the Creator and 
carrying out a purpose complex and in- 
comprehensible to finite minds. 

Each particle of matter is an immensity, each 
leaf a world, each insect an inexplicable compen- 
dium. — Lavater. 

That each thing, both in small and in great, ful- 
filleth the task which destiny has set down. 

— Hippocra les. 

Yet to man has beeTi held out the 
"golden sceptre," free, to every one who is 



272 How to Achieve Success. 

willing to accept of so divine a gift — infinite, 
endowed with power to put under subjec- 
tion all the subtle forces of the elements, 
bidding them pay tribute to his genius. 
What a field for exploration! How vast, 
how boundless in resource! — limited only 
by the domain of the infinite. If it be true 
that the Creator has thus infused life into 
all created matter, giving to man such ex- 
alted possibilities, rendering him able to 
subjugate and control all thie combined 
forces of nature, how unworthy is that man 
who, for a "mess of pottage," sells his birth- 
right to heaven-born privileges, to become 
a companion of "swine," to satisfy the crav- 
ings of hunger with "husks." If, then, the 
Author of the worM -and systems of worlds 
had a plan, a purpose, from the beginning, 
from the eternity of the past, how vastly 
greater is it important that finite man 
should have a well-defined plan, a purpose, 
on which all his efforts shall converge. 
Without such a plan or purpose no man 
can accomplish the best results. Carlyle 
puts it thus, "A man without a purpose is 
no man." The sublimity, the exalted posi- 
tion given to man, ought to inspire him to 
seek the highest good attainable, to make 
the most of his opportunities, and to be 
satisfied with nothing less. It is not 
enough to do as well as some one else has 
done, or is doing, but we must aim to do 



How to Achieve Success. 273 

better work to be worthy of any merit. 
Because our fathers carried a stone in one 
end of the bag to balance the corn in the 
other, is no good reason why we should 
follow their ridiculous practices. The fact 
that they fell into a rut and followed it like 
a blind horse in a tread-mill, is one of the 
best of all reasons why we should get out of 
it. Every live young man, in dead earnest, 
must and will strike out for himself — hew 
out a pathway of his own, and lay his own 
track. 

THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA'S WAY OF BUILD- 
ING RAILROADS. 

The emperor of Russia gave orders to 
his civil engineer to build a railroad from 
St. Petersburg to Moscow. The route was 
surveyed, and a diagram was made on a 
card, and submitted to the emperor for his 
approval. He glanced at it, and asked, 
"Why have you made so many crooks and 
curves in your line? Why have you not 
made it straight?" The chief engineer re- 
plied that it was to accommodate this vil- 
lage and that city along the route. The 
emperor turned the card over, made a dot 
for St. Petersburg and another for Mos- 
cow. Drawing a straight line from one to 
the other, he passed the card back to the 
engineer, and said, "Build the road by that 
line." Now the only line to success is the 
18 



2 74 How to Achieve Success. 

straight line. Settle the question once for all 
what shall be your purpose, what you pro- 
pose shall be your life-work. Map out your 
plan — avoid all crooks and curves. You 
need no side-tracks, turn-outs, or switches 
— you need a single track. Every morning 
test your compass; every night reverse your 
instrument, and see if you have diverged 
from the "straight line." Carefully note 
any variations from the original plan. 

INDEPENDENCE. 

"I believe neither in idols nor demons ; I put my 
sole trust in my own strength of body and soul." 

Energy, invincible determination, with a right 
motive, are the levers that move the world. 

— President Porter. 

The great thing for any young man to 
do is to strike for his freedom; to think and 
act for himself; to be thoroughly emanci- 
pated from the superstitions and prejudices 
of the past and the present. He should have 
no side issues and carry no "dead weights." 
What some one else has done, or is doing, 
is for them to give* an account of, not for 
him. The only question for him to settle is, 
"Am I on the right track, the straight line, 
on time? How does my progress compare 
with the opportunities within my reach?" 
The world's advancement has been accom- 
plished only by some one's breaking away 



How to Achieve Success. 275 

from established customs. The great dis- 
coveries of the past were not made by the 
public, the masses, but often by some ob- 
scure individual, isolated from the "best 
society," who worked out some great prob- 
lem in the solitude of his humble dwelling; 
and perhaps, when he was ready to make 
known to the world his discovery, it would 
be met with opposition and ridiculed as im- 
practicable — simply the result of some 
addle-headed, fanatical crank — a crazy 
idiot. 

CRAZY INVENTOR. 

De Caux, the inventor, was arrested as 
being a dangerous person to have his free- 
dom, and consequently was locked up in 
prison. Yet through the prison bars he 
held out his model of the first steam engine, 
imploring the passing throng to stop and 
listen to his story, to examine his work to 
see if it looked like the work of a crazy man 
— a mad man. 

"fulton's folly." 

Robert Fulton built the first steamboat 
on the Hudson, the "Clermont," and it was 
called "Fulton's Folly," by those who 
thought themselves wondrous wise. Al- 
though it made a successful trial trip from 
New York City to Albany and back, yet 
it was pronounced a failure, and many de- 
clared that it could not be made to repeat 



276 How to Achieve Success. 

the trip. It created consternation and ter- 
ror among certain classes on its approach. 
The most terrified besought Providence to 
protect them from the horrid monster 
which was marching on the tides and light- 
ing its path by the fires which it vomited. 
Some of the vessels were run ashore to 
escape the awful monster. Passengers and 
crews on board of ships that could not 
reach the shore in time, hid themselves in 
the hold to escape the impending doom 
that seemed to be inevitable. There was 
one sensible woman, however, a farmer's 
wife, who happened to step out of her 
house in the evening as the "Clermont" was 
passing. Seeing it, she cried out, "Hus- 
band! husband! come out here, quick! 
There is a saw-mill broke loose and it's 
coming down the river!" 

Mr. Fulton, the builder, says, "I never 
received a single encouraging remark, a 
bright hope, or a warm wish across my 
path." 

THE WORLD'S MARTYRS. 

He who has no opinion of his own, but depends 
upon the opinions and tastes of others, is a slave. 

— Klopstock. 

Every new discovery in science and art, 
as well as in religion, has encountered great 
hostility — the fiercest opposition has been 
arrayed against all and every noble cause; 



How to Achieve Success. 277 

and that too by those who verily believed 
that they were doing "God service." The 
great apostle in spite of his masterly elo- 
quence, his unanswerable and incontrovert- 
ible facts, was pronounced "mad." 

"These that have turned the world upside down 
are come hither also." 

Socrates was condemned to drink the 
deadly hemlock because he believed in the 
rights of the "individual conscience;" and 
taught that the greatest of all knowledge 
was to "know thyself." 

Through fear of innovation Copernicus 
did not dare denounce the great discovery, 
which had baffled the savans of the ages. 
Thirteen long years he kept to himself the 
profound secret — 'that the sun was the great 
centre of a great solar system; that the 
earth revolved around the sun. He mod- 
estly gave it as a mere "hypothesis." 

PALISSY, THE POTTER. 

Bernard Palissy, the potter, was bur- 
dened with a great idea which could only 
be proved or worked out by a fire test. 
This he proposed to do, but before the test 
was completed his fuel was exhausted. His 
last penny had been spent for wood. Fuel 
he must have, or his fire would go out, 
and he would be a ruined man. A thou- 
sand times had he experimented, and yet 



278 How to Achieve Success. 

the secret of the ceramic art was not his. 
His last trial, his all, was in his oven — and 
where was the fuel to come from to in- 
tensify the heat in his fiery furnace? There 
was no time to be lost, and without a 
moment's delay he resolved what to do. He 
caught up his axe, and as fast as he could 
reduce his household furniture into kin- 
dling-wood it was thrown into the furnace. 
Every box and chest was sacrificed to the 
fiery god. Still the work was not com- 
pleted. Amid the tears and pleadings of 
his wife and children, the jeers and ridicule 
of his stupid neighbors, he began cutting 
his house into fire-wood to feed his fur- 
nace. In spite of his rags, his hungry and 
starving family, in utter despair — poverty- 
stricken — relentlessly the work of destruc- 
tion went on. With what intense interest 
he now watched the glowing heat of his 
furnace as it became more intensified by 
fresh supplies of fuel. At last, like magic, 
he saw the dream of his life realized. Ex- 
ultantly he exclaimed, "I have got it! I 
have got it!" 

Who would not have felt proud to have 
stood beside that "crazy old fool" as from 
his oven he drew forth his five hundred 
cups and saucers, his bowls and pitchers 
and beautiful vases, bright and shining, 
like a new mirror. The enameling pro- 
cess was a success; the ceramic art per- 



How to Achieve Success. 279 

fected. From that day to this the world 
has been paying tribute to the genius of a 
man who had a purpose to accomplish — 
and who accomplished it. 

Yet, for all this, Bernard Palissy died in 
a felon's cell, for no crime. You who sip 
your tea and coffee from "French China," 
think what it cost Bernard Palissy to bring 
it to perfection. 

COLUMBUS. 

Columbus was impressed with a sublime 
idea, and the more he reflected upon it the 
heavier it weighed upon his mind, and he 
could not dispel it from his thoughts. It 
was the burden of his soul night and day. 
He was anxious to solve this great prob- 
lem, for he saw unmistakable evidences 
that there was an "undiscovered country" 
peopled by an unknown race. He longed 
to see and tread upon its soil, to know its 
bounds, its products, its wonders, and its 
wealth. He wanted to become acquainted 
with its inhabitants, and to learn their 
origin, their history. To this end all his 
energies were concentrated for the accom- 
plishment of this life purpose. 

Yet with what indifference and ridicule 
his theories and deductions were received, 
not only by the ignorant, but by the best 
scholars of the age. For twenty long years, 
was this unsolved problem crowding upon 



280 How to Achieve Success. 

his thoughts night and day, to him almost 
overwhelming in its magnitude, yet every 
day increasing his convictions that his 
theory was based upon unmistakable facts. 
Yet what trials and discouragements and 
disappointments awaited him before he was 
permitted to sail for that unknown port! 
Then when his hopes and anticipations 
were just on the eve of being realized, a 
rebellious and cowardly crew demanded 
that he should turn his ships homeward. 
Probably not one man in a million could 
have carried to so successful an issue the 
triumph achieved by Columbus. It was 
through his indomitable perseverance, and 
will-power, that no obstacle could impede 
or block up his way to a final triumph of a 
well-chosen, well-defined life purpose. 
Think of the rewards that awaited that 
grand old hero, robbed at last of his hard- 
earned laurels and treated like a felon! For 
all that, the name of Columbus will live 
when monuments of other heroes shall 
have crumbled into dust and been scattered 
to the four winds of heaven. 

THE IMPASSABLE BARRIER. 

The miner prosecutes his work by the 
light of a lamp on his cap. If his light goes 
out, he is compelled to cease work. The 
man of science prosecutes his investiga- 
tions, works on until he comes to the con- 



How to Achieve Success. 281 

elusion that he has exhausted the subject 
of his research, when, in fact, it is the oil 
in his lamp that has become exhausted, for 
he has reached the limit of his powers. 
Then a new man comes to the front, fresh 
and vigorous, with his lamp full to the 
brim, well-trimmed, and burning like a 
flaming torch. He is prepared to take up 
the work where the old philosopher left it. 
Like the standard-bearer, who, when his 
comrade falls, catches up the falling colors 
and presses on, supported by the invincible 
columns that support the advance of each 
advancing picket line, so the world's pro- 
gress is carried forward, and the great 
clock of the ages marks a new epoch in the 
onward, upward march to a nobler and 
grander civilization. 

The movement of the species is upward, irresisti- 
bly upward. — Bancroft. 

The advance picket lines — the discov- 
erers — are always a long way in advance 
of the rank and file — the masses. A cen- 
tury intervenes between the front and rear 
columns. The old philosophers die hard. 
If any one attempts to pass over their dis- 
coveries, they are ready to cry out, "Halt! 
It's the height of presumption for you, 
young man, to attempt to go beyond my 
investigations. I have been fifty years de- 
veloping and establishing my discoveries 



282 How to Achieve Success. 

in this one line, which you now propose to 
question, assuming to set aside or over- 
throw the labors of a lifetime. I must pro- 
test against such assumptions. My advice 
to you, young man, is that you wait until 
your crude ideas are toned down a little. 
It becomes a youth to respect age. When 
you have seen as many years of service as I 
have, you will not be quite as fresh and 
eager to rush into deep water. Better keep 
near the shore until you can swim." 

Great men of all ages — men who are en- 
titled to honor for good and faithful work 
done — dislike to be reminded of the fact 
that possibly they have outlived their use- 
fulness. They dread to be compelled to 
stand aside, to be "laid on the shelf." But 
there is no help for it. The world started 
on its sublime march more than six thou- 
sand years ago; on its forward movement 
on that irresistible line of an endless pro- 
gression, sweeping on down into the vistas 
of the eternities. It is the irrevocable fiat 
of Him who "spake and it was done." The 
universal law of ceaseless activity — pro- 
gression — went into force on the morning 
of creation; "let there be light" has never 
been repealed. 

Too many are like the Brahmin who was 
asked to look at a drop of water through a 
microscope. Horror of horrors! it was 
alive! He wanted to examine that "curi- 



How to Achieve Success. 283 

ous instrument." He asked, "Is there any- 
more in the country like it?" "No; this is 
the only one." He seized the microscope, 
and smashed it to pieces on a rock. ''You 
have destroyed my peace of mind forever 
more." To him "ignorance was bliss." 

But the "handwriting is upon the wall." 
Sooner or later the order will come for 
those in front to "halt," and the "long 
march" will be over. We remember read- 
ing of only one great man, who, on taking 
a retrospective view of a long and useful 
life, could say, in childish simplicity, "It 
seems to me that, like a child, I have been 
only at play with the shells along the shore 
of that great ocean of truth that lay before 
me all undiscovered." That was the word 
of that great philosopher Sir Isaac New- 
ton, the discoverer of the law of gravita- 
tion, who solved the greatest problem of 
the ages. 

opposition. * 

There is nothing stronger than human prejudice. 
— Wendell Ph Mips. 

Every great enterprise has been met 
with stubborn opposition, and that, too, 
most frequently from men claiming to be 
"scientific." When it was proposed to lay 
an ocean cable, it was at once pronounced 
a most absurd proposition. "Why every 



284 How to Achieve Success. 

school-boy knows better." "The idea of 
laying a telegraph-wire on the ocean's bed 
is only an illustration of ignorance of the 
laws of the electrical currents." The pro- 
jectors had a definite purpose in view, and 
despite the ridicule that was heaped upon 
their unscientific act, they proposed to 
carry out their purpose; and although it 
required nearly ten years to perfect the sys- 
tem, it was accomplished, and many ocean 
cables are now required to do the business. 

Edison, in his younger days, was study- 
ing the laws of electricity — experimenting 
with some rude appliances, the best he 
could afford. They were kicked out of 
doors, and he with them. A great thought 
had found lodgment in his mind which he 
could not banish. It must be worked out. 
The great purpose of his life was to solve 
some of the hidden mysteries of that sub- 
tle fluid. "A boy's thoughts are long, long 
thoughts." Edison has been experiment- 
ing for decades, and he says that "almost 
every day some wise man rises and calls 
me a fool." 

Despite the ridicule heaped upon him by 
those who pretend to be "masters" of the 
laws of electricity, Edison does not swerve 
one iota, or relax his efforts in the smallest 
degree, but steadily works on. His life 
purpose is manifestly well-defined. The 
world is just beginning to realize that in- 



How to Achieve Success. 285 

stead of electricity being a deadly enemy 
to the human race, it is a most obedient 
servant, when treated intelligently. 

Another lesson the world has learned is 
that to experiment with the subtle fluid is 
not "tempting Providence." So the name 
of Edison is added to the illustrious list of 
the world's benefactors. Millions upon 
millions of dollars of wealth have been 
added to the world's assets by his inde- 
fatigable labors to a sublime purpose. How 
numerous are the aspirants, anxious to 
draw dividends from other men's hard- 
earned discoveries — to steal their profits 
and reap the honors. There are those who 
are always ready to set up "prior claims" 
— to ante-date their discoveries. As a rule, 
every inventor has had a mighty struggle 
to hold his hard-earned laurels. A battle 
with the elements, to "harness them up" 
and bid them pay tribute to the genius of 
man, was nothing in comparison to the 
conflict with the "pirates," — the system- 
atic efforts of these "vandals," combined 
with those who ought to help every man 
in his philanthropic efforts to bless the 
human race by every possible labor-saving 
appliance, instead of persistently trying to 
crush one who dares to precipitate a revo- 
lution in any long-established theory, how- 
ever antiquated it may be. 



286 How to Achieve Success. 

THE DISCOVERER OF THE PLANET VULCAN. 

The high priest of science, the director 
of the imperial observatory of Paris, re- 
ceived a letter from a "country doctor," 
living in a remote rural district, stating that 
he had discovered the planet Vulcan. This 
high priest of science lost no time in visit- 
ing this unknown astronomer; and this is 
the way he introduced his business: "Is it 
you, sir, who pretend to have discovered 
the intra-mercurial planet, and who has 
committed the grave offence of keeping 
your observations secret for nine months? 
I have to tell you that I come with the in- 
tention of exposing your pretensions, and 
demonstrating your great delusion, if not 
dishonesty. Where is your chronometer, 
sir? What! with that old watch, marking- 
only minutes! Do you dare to speak of 
estimating seconds?" 

In spite of the efforts of this high priest 
of science to crush him, the "country doc- 
tor" was decorated with the order of the 
"Legion of Honor." 

"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 

COMMUNISM. 

From the day the first spindle and shut- 
tle were propelled by power, till now, there 
has been waged a continual and bitter 
warfare against all labor-saving machines. 
Millions upon millions of dollars worth of 



How to Achieve Success. 287 

property has been destroyed by those who 
are bitterly opposed to any and all im- 
provements that may trench upon their 
assumed prerogatives. Mills have been 
burned, mines destroyed, railroads torn up, 
bridges blown up, and devastation and 
death have followed and held high carnival 
where these vandals were in force. 

The western farmer is dictated to as to 
how he shall harvest his grain. "If you 
cut your wheat with a reaper, we will burn 
it in the stack." And they have done so 
repeatedly. Yet, without the modern har- 
vester, it would be impossible to supply the 
world with bread. 

Time and space will allow us to notice 
but a few of the thousand ways in which 
every great enterprise has been challenged 
and fought at every advancing step, not 
only by the ignorant and vicious, but by 
men who have styled themselves "liberal." 
Wendell Phillips has said that every ad- 
vancement of the world to a higher civiliza- 
tion has been from "scaffold to scaffold, 
from stake to stake." The world has been 
deluged in blood at every step upward. 

REVOLUTION AMONG THE M. D.'s. 

Fifty years ago, the regular practice of 
medicine was entirely different from the 
methods of to-day. Bleeding was then the 
great remedy, drawing from the patient the 



288 How to Achieve Success. 

best blood that coursed through his veins; 
and dosing him with calomel, jalap, assa- 
fcetida, etc. Emetics were freely given, and 
were never wanting in potency. Blisters 
from head to foot were not destitute of 
"power to draw," to the satisfaction of the 
patient, as they would usually bring him to 
a "feeling sense" of the desperate situation 
he was in. When a poor patient was burn- 
ing up with fever, not a drop of cold water 
or ice would be allowed the sick man to 
cool the burning fever within, nor a breath 
of fresh air from without. A patient who 
survived such a course of treatment proved 
that he was blessed with a "powerful consti- 
tution." That style of practice was on a 
par with the way the "medicine man" prac- 
tices to-day in India. If, after exhausting 
his ordinary remedies, the patient does not 
recover from his illness, the "medicine 
man" goes to the druggist and orders a 
compound made, embracing a portion of 
every kind of medicine in his shop. "One 
hundred and sixty kinds" go into the pre- 
scription. If the patient is "to be cured," 
the right medicine will surely reach his 
case. But if he dies, it is because "his time 
has come." Very consoling to his friends, 
and highly creditable to the "doctor!" 

Before the discovery of the circulation of 
the blood, by Harvey, it was the practice 
of surgeons in those days, when cutting off 



How to Achieve Success. 289 

a limb, to use red-hot irons to sear the sev- 
ered blood-vessels. Such barbarity would 
not be tolerated in this age. Dr. Jenner 
was the first to rob small-pox by inocula- 
tion of its loathsomeness and horror. 
After having made the discovery, he con- 
tinued his investigations for twenty years 
before announcing it to the public. Yet 
"it was almost universally denounced by 
physicians and the clergy, and oftentimes 
in the severest language." To-day a man 
who does not believe in the Jenner theory 
is accounted either a fool or an idiot. 
Surely the world has advanced in the treat- 
ment of the "ills that human flesh is heir 
to." 

"the old meeting-house that stood ox 

THE HILL." 

There was a time when it was a dreadful 
thing to have a stove in the "meeting- 
house." The men or women who could 
not sit comfortably without a fire, on the 
coldest day in winter, and pay attention to 
a sermon one hour and forty minutes long, 
might well question their title to heaven. 
The "meeting-houses" of those days were 
not much better than ordinary barns for 
comfort. A story is told where the major- 
ity voted for the "unsanctified stove," 
against the earnest protest of the minority. 
The stove was purchased and carried into 
19 



290 Hozv to Achieve Success. 

the meeting-house. The following Sunday- 
was a bitter cold day. It was not long be- 
fore there was a commotion among the 
worshipers. One of the objectors, an an- 
cient maiden lady, had not been long in 
her seat before she began to feel "dread- 
fully oppressed." "The heat of that stove 
is overcoming me." She fainted, and had 
to be carried out into the fresh air to bring 
her to. She wanted to be "taken home." 
"I never can endure that stove." But the 
joke of it was, that the stove had not been 
set up for want of pipe. 

Fate is the friend of the good, the guide of the 
wise, the tyrant of the foolish, the enemy of the 
bad.— IV. R. Alger. 

For the noblest man that lives there still remains 
a conflict. — President Garfield. 

We have said these things to illustrate 
the importance of having a life purpose, 
and then to adhere to it with a pertinacity 
that knows of no compromise, with an in- 
flexible will that knows of no surrender — 
determined to outride all opposition. To 
do this you must learn, first of all, to con- 
quer self — the most obstinate and wily an- 
tagonist that can oppose your plans. 

No conflict is so severe as his who labors to sub- 
due himself. — Thos. aKempis. 

The most powerful is he who has himself in his 
power. — Seneca. 

"He conquers who conquers himself." 



How to Achieve Success. 291 

When you have self well disciplined, you 
will then be prepared to combat the most 
formidable and relentless foe that may dare 
to challenge your inalienable right to think 
and act for yourself — your right to step 
outside of a beaten track; the right to in- 
vestigate in or out of prescribed rules and 
practices laid down by the "standard au- 
thorities." But to do this successfully you 
must prepare for it — for it means work, 
hard work, year in and year out. There 
must be no skipping or dodging any task, 
however uninteresting or disagreeable it 
may seem. 

THE STUDENT. 

Whatever you win in life you must conquer by 
your own efforts, and then it is yours — a part of 
yourself. — President Garfield. 

One student ignores chemistry — "too 
dry for me." His comrade says, "I see by 
the papers that there is not an article of 
food that has not been successfully adulter- 
ated. I want to know what I eat and drink. 
I want to know how to test all the articles 
that are in daily use for food, as well as the 
water I drink. My success in life will de- 
pend upon my having a good sound con- 
stitution, and that depends in a great meas- 
ure on what I eat. It will pay me to know 
this much, I am sure. Then I want to 
know something about the arts, and unless 



292 Hozv to Achieve Success. 

I have a knowledge of chemistry I cannot. 
There is my Uncle John. He is a chemist 
for one of the great corporations at Law- 
rence, Massachusetts, and has a salary of 
fifteen thousand dollars a year. He says 
experts get from five to ten thousand dol- 
lars a year. I mean to be a good chemist. 
I have a good teacher, and the time. 
That's my purpose." 

The other replies, "I'll take my chances 
on getting poisoned. No chemistry for 
me." Yet a good practical knowledge of 
chemistry and mineralogy is a greater for- 
tune to a young man than to be President 
of the United States. 

Another classmate says, "What's the use 
of studying fractions?" and so shuts up 
his book and passes his time in idleness, 
letting the golden opportunities pass — 
hours laden with untold wealth. A capital 
that might be a fortune is lost, the magni- 
tude of which is not computable by any 
human arithmetic. His classmate wastes 
no time in idleness; masters every example 
he comes to, and is only anxious to find 
something more difficult. One proposes to 
do his best; the other to do the least — any- 
thing to "kill time." One goes up in the 
scale, and the other descends. One is faith- 
ful to every trust, gaining friends wherever 
he goes; the other meets with disappoint- 
ment, and the gulf that separates them is 



How to Achieve Success. 293 

ever widening — bridgeless, and must for- 
ever remain so. "Jus* my luck," says the 
purposeless young man, as he sees his for- 
mer classmate steadily advancing from one 
position to another with a better salary. 
"He always was a lucky fellow." Luck! 
there was no luck about it. Instead of 
skipping fractions, he was only too happy 
to wrestle with the most complex. That 
was why his services were worth five thou- 
sand dollars a year to some New York 
banker; or perhaps twenty-five thousand 
dollars a year to some great railroad corpo- 
ration (the present salary of half a dozen 
railroad presidents in this country). The 
luck was in being prepared for the position 
when the vacancy occurred. Good posi- 
tions do not come by lot, or accident, or 
chance. Every young man who wills to be 
a man will be one, and no accident can 
frustrate his purpose. Luck and chance 
play no part in the accomplishment of a 
well-chosen life purpose. 

There is no action -of man in this life which is not 
the beginning of so long a chain of consequences as 
that no human providence is high enough to give 
us a prospect to the end. — Thomas Malmesbury. 

The mighty possibilities of a successful 
life are often poised on a very slight pivot. 
Opportunities of the most momentous con- 
sequence are frequently narrowed down to 
an almost imperceptible point. It is "yes" 



294 How to Achieve Success. 

or "no" that settles the destiny of many a 
young man. Opportunities of the greatest 
magnitude are thus briefly passed upon. 
Opportunities never to be repeated demand 
the highest consideration when they come. 

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good 
we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. — ^hak- 
speare. 

THE MYSTERIES OF THE CENTURIES. 

Millions of years before the earth was 
prepared for the habitation of man, nature's 
great laboratory was at work, working for 
the accomplishment of a purpose, the im- 
portance and magnitude of which far sur- 
pass all human computation. Change 
upon change, transformation after trans- 
formation, unseen by mortal vision, goes 
on, until the final accomplishment of a plan 
or purpose, inaugurated millions of years 
before, to meet the demands of civilization, 
millions of years down the vista of the com- 
ing ages. The great mountains become 
store-houses of an inexhaustible wealth, 
only waiting for the necessities of man to 
unlock their doors and bear away the treas- 
ures. The mountains "drop fatness." The 
"red man" of the forest, the "medicine 
man," is the first to bottle up the fluid from 
the overflowing fountains. "Seneca oil" 
was the matchless sanative for all the ills 



How io Achieve Success. 295 

that afflicted the "red man," and the white 
man's remedy for "aches and pains." The 
secret was with the Seneca Indians a cen- 
tury before ''kerosene oil" was of any com- 
mercial value. 

"Black diamonds" were discovered in 
vast quantities in the mountain fastness — 
valueless to all human appearance. The 
genius of man — one man — was on the alert 
to solve the hidden secrets, the "whys and 
wherefores." By experimenting he finds 
these diamonds to be rich in carbon, 
capable of generating intense heat when 
"fired." He finds the mountains are one 
vast store-house of fuel. He invites his 
friends to witness the demonstration of his 
theory by a fire test; and although they 
felt the intense heat as it radiated from the 
open grate, yet they pronounced it a hum- 
bug, and the delineator an imposter. "It's 
nothing but black stone, and it won't burn 
without fuel to make it burn." That "black 
stone" is the anthracite coal of to-day. 
How marvelous, how grand and sublime 
the thought, that our homes are made com- 
fortable on a "winter's night" by the warm 
rays of the sun that fell upon the earth mill- 
ions of years ago, gathered up and stored 
away in nature's vast store-house, awaiting 
our coming! This is one of the unanswer- 
able proofs that there is a Supreme Creator, 
whose purposes are unfolding each and 



296 How to Achieve Success. 

every moment of time in this life's mys- 
terious drama. 

Slumber not in the tents of your fathers: 
The world is advancing — advance with it. 

— Mazzini. 

Yes, the world is advancing. The dawn 
of the new era has appeared. Its light is 
beaming from the chambers of the morn- 
ing, penciling the heavens with its coming 
glory. The age of barbarism, of caste, of 
superstition, is passing away into the ever- 
lasting night of oblivion, where no resur- 
rection awaits it. They who are in advance, 
on the mountain top, are the first to wel- 
come its coming and catch the inspiration, 
and herald in the new era. The great 
wheels of time are silently moving on in 
their sublime grandeur, keeping time in 
unbroken cadences to the "music of the 
spheres." Each revolution enhances 
human possibilities, lifting the human race 
upward to a grander, nobler civilization. 
We must keep pace with the advance, or 
be crushed beneath its ponderous wheels. 
We might as well shut our eyes and say 
that the sun was blotted from the heavens, 
as say that he present age has reached or 
ever will reach the other shore of that il- 
limitable ocean bounded by the infinite. It 
is as utterly impossible to banish the light 
of each new era, or circumvent its coming, 



How to Achieve Success. 297 

as it would be to dam a thousand Niagaras 
with a bulrush. The great wheels of time 
cannot be stopped nor reversed. It is the 
ever-present — that inexorable now — that is 
stamping the future of the young men of 
this generation. To-day is the index of 
your to-morrow. What you are to-day 
is the index of what you will be to-morrow. 
The seed you planted yesterday you are 
reaping the first fruits of now — to-day. 
The seed-time and harvest are perpetual, 
unlike the seasons. "What shall the har- 
vest be" — your harvest? 

Fly the pleasure that bites to-morrow.— George 
Herbert. 



298 How to Achieve Success. 

EXAMPLES OF MEN WHO HAVE 
LIVED FOR A PURPOSE. 

HORACE MAYNARD — SETTING HIS MARK 
HIGH. 

"Soon after the late Horace Maynard 
entered Amherst College he put on the 
door of his room a large letter V. Its pres- 
ence exposed him to questions and ridi- 
cule, but paying no attention to either, he 
kept the letter in its place. At the end of 
four years graduation day came, and Mr. 
Maynard was appointed to deliver the vale- 
dictory. After having received the com- 
pliments of the faculty and students for the 
honor he had received, Mr. Maynard called 
the attention of his fellow-graduates to the 
letter V over the door of his room, and 
asked if they then understood what it 
meant. After short reflection, they an- 
swered, 'Yes; valedictory.' He replied, 
'You are right.' His fellows then asked if 
he had the valedictory on his mind when 
he pasted the letter over his door. Mr. 
Maynard replied, 'Assuredly I had.' " — 
Boston Journal. 

johns hopkins's purpose. 

"Johns Hopkins commenced business in 
Baltimore with only four hundred dollars. 



How to Achieve Success. 299 

With that sum and his own exertions he 
built up a colossal fortune. He had a pur- 
pose at the start, and worked day and 
night until he had accumulated the means 
necessary to carry out his magnificent de- 
sign. The secret of his plans he would not 
reveal until he had accomplished every- 
thing he deemed important in connection 
therewith. From the beginning he de- 
clared that he had a mission from God to 
increase his store, and that the golden 
flood which poured into his coffers did not 
belong to the hundreds who sought to bor- 
row or beg it from him. They called him 
an 'old miser,' 'old skin-flint,' 'mean,' 
'stingy,' and every opprobrious epithet they 
could think of. But it was all the same to 
him, for he had a grander use and purpose 
for his millions than feeding professional 
beggars. Four millions were given by him 
to endow a free hospital in Baltimore. 
Three millions were given to endow the 
Johns Hopkins University, near Baltimore. 
He left in all nine millions for these insti- 
tutions. The unfortunates who may be 
sick, have a place of refuge, where without 
money they will be tenderly cared for, 
while the young men who are seeking an 
education will be most liberally assisted. 
Think of the thousands of young men 
down to the end of time who will reap the 
benefits of Johns Hopkins' carrying out the 



300 Hozv to Achieve Success. 

magnificent purpose he had planned early 
in his business career. 

"There is nothing like having a well- 
devised plan, and then sticking to it, let 
come what will. No one can engage in any 
work without incurring opposition. Peo- 
ple are selfish, and are ever ready to beg 
for help, either financially or otherwise, 
and when they do not obtain it of those 
they ask, they turn around and ridicule 
them and call them mean. But no one can 
succeed if he is to be influenced by every 
wind that blows. Let no one quail or trem- 
ble because of opposition. A little opposi- 
tion is a good thing." 

THE WRECKER. 

"Many years ago there lived on the 
Atlantic coast a man who followed the life 
of a wrecker. One dark and stormy night 
he led his horse to a high and rocky cliff 
overlooking the sea. Tying his lantern to 
the horse's head, he led him round and 
round in a circle throughout the night. 
The winds shrieked and howled, while the 
roar of the breakers as the waves rolled 
shoreward and dashed against the rocky 
cliff was deafening and terrible, even to 
those safe on shore. But what terror to 
the poor sailors who might not have 
reached a harbor of safety, and were held in 
the cruel arms of the storm-king in his 



How to Achieve Success. 301 

wrath. All night the storm raged; all that 
long night the wrecker led his horse 
around on the circling beat, hoping that the 
light of his lantern might be seen by some 
poor sailor on the watch for a haven of 
safety, who might take bearings from the 
light of his lantern. Do you suppose it was 
a beacon light for the sailors, to guide 
them in their course, to warn them of their 
close proximity to a dangerous reef, and 
thus point out the way to avoid being 
driven upon the rocks? If that had been 
the man's purpose would not the wrecker 
have been a noble-hearted man, full of sym- 
pathy for the poor tempest-tossed mariner, 
to thus face a furious storm, keeping his 
lantern well-trimmed and burning through 
a fearful tempest, trembling perhaps lest 
the lantern might go out, or its light grow 
dim, and not be seen in time; or fearing 
his strength might fail him before the night 
would be gone? What if he should hear 
above the roar of the tempest the piercing 
wail of some unfortunate, in despair, cry- 
ing for help? What a night of fearful fore- 
bodings would that have been! — and no 
one but a veteran could have endured such, 
a fearful tempest. But this wrecker had no 
such tender feelings for the sailor. He was 
a base wretch, hardened in crime. His 
light was a false light, hung out not to save, 
but to deceive, to decoy, to entrap, any 



302 How to Achieve Success. 

passing ship that might see it, to draw 
them from their only safe course into the 
very jaws of death, to be caught by the 
breakers and driven upon the rocks and 
dashed to pieces. His stratagem was to 
counterfeit the revolving lights of the gov- 
ernment light-house twenty miles away. In 
the gray of the morning he peered anx- 
iously out into the misty darkness that 
hung over the troubled waters. To the joy 
of his heart, the outline of a stranded wreck 
appeared amid the breakers. His diabol- 
ical plan had worked its purpose only too 
well. The coveted prize was there. Impa- 
tiently he watched it, and waited for the 
sea to become quiet, that he might gather 
in the spoils before the wreck went to 
pieces. On the third day he rowed out in 
his boat and cautiously approached the ill- 
fated ship, fearing that the work of death 
had not been complete. At last he ven- 
tured on board, and as he stepped on deck 
he listened, but all was still as the grave. 
Stealthily he crept down the cabin stairs, 
looking into every berth and bunk, fearing 
he might find some one alive. When he 
had satisfied himself that he was there 
alone, the sole possessor of its treasures, he 
was overjoyed, and with a fiendish delight 
he went to work gathering up the rich 
spoils. In his excitement and haste he 
stumbled over a corpse, and as he fell, his 



How to Achieve Success. 303 

eye caught sight of a massive gold ring 
upon the hand of the dead man, as he lay 
stretched out upon the deck. He lifted up 
the hand to snatch off the ring, and as he 
did so the eyes of the dead man seemed to 
be fixed upon him. He looked at the 
body, and then at the ring. He discov- 
ered a name upon the inside of the latter. 
He read it, and then looked again at those 
glaring eyes that could not escape him. 
He trembled like an aspen, in mortal 
agony. The prostrate form was that of his 
own son! He had been absent for several 
years in a foreign country, and was now on 
his return home. Just as he was nearing 
his native land, his boyhood home, he died 
in sight of it, by the cruel hands of his own 
father. Choosing a wicked purpose is like 
a two-edged sword, it cuts both ways." 

SAVED FROM THE WRECK. 

"In the fall of 1880, at Rogers Park sta- 
tion, on the Northwestern Railroad, a few 
miles north of Chicago, a Mr. Beckler, a 
printer by trade, was returning home from 
church, at about nine o'clock on a Sunday 
evening. A terrific thunder-storm was 
raging at the time, and the rain was com- 
ing down in torrents, the wind blowing a 
gale — almost a tornado — the flashes of 
lightning were vivid, while the almost in- 
cessant roll of the thunder was awful and 



304 How to Achieve Success. 

sublime. Just as Mr. Beckler was crossing 
the railroad track, there came a flash of 
lightning, and by its intense brilliancy and 
prolonged duration, he was able to detect 
at some distance down the track an ob- 
struction, and he went down to see what it 
was. There had been left standing on the 
side-track some freight-cars, with brakes 
firmly set, but by the force of the wind they 
had been driven down the track to the 
switch, and the front wheels of the forward 
car had jumped the track and become im- 
bedded between the ties on the main line. 
Mr. Beckler lost not a moment's time, but 
hastened to the residence of the station- 
agent and aroused him, and they hurried to 
the station and put out a danger signal as 
quickly as possible to give warning of the 
danger to a coming train — which was al- 
ready past due. The train was an un- 
usually heavy one, and very crowded — 
many passengers being compelled to stand 
up. It was also behind time, and running 
at a speed of not less than fifty miles an 
hour, and was not to stop at his station. 

"Fortunately the engineer observed the 
signal in time, and thus a fearful catas- 
trophe was averted. The trainmen and the 
passengers felt a gratitude to Mr. Beckler 
they could not express in words. The rail- 
road company gave him a life pass over 
their road, to show that they appreciated 



How to Achieve Success. 305 

his timely services. Few men at any time 
would have observed the situation, and 
how rare would it be to find a duplicate of 
Mr. Beckler? Who would, on such a 
night, in such a tempest, have gone one 
step out of his way for any railroad com- 
pany, or for any man? 

"Compare this action with that of the 
wrecker. Each had a purpose; one was to 
wreck, the other to save from wreck. Com- 
pare the happiness of each. One dying of 
remorse, haunted nightly with fearful 
dreams — the glaring eyes of his son ever 
fastened on him, and no escaping from the 
terrible ordeal, the punishment he must en- 
dure for that one crime alone. Mr. Beck- 
ler will have a life-long satisfaction as he 
recalls the incidents of that night. The 
purpose which 'actuated him and that which 
actuated the wrecker, as illustrated by these 
incidents, exhibit the character of each in 
its true light, and need no comment from 
us. We leave the reader to draw his own 
conclusions. Their aims, how wide apart! 
Each had a purpose, and was working for 
its accomplishment." 

PETER COOPER, THE GREAT PHILAN- 
THROPIST. 

The late Peter Cooper, the great philan- 
thropist, of New York City, presents to 
young men who think their road a hard one 



306 How to Achieve Success. 

to travel, an example worthy of careful 
study, illustrating, as it does, what one 
earnest young man accomplished for him- 
self and the world. Peter Cooper's early 
life was one of labor and struggle, as it is 
with most of our successful men of this 
country. His educational advantages were 
limited to a half of each day for a single 
year. The other half was given to hard 
work "at the bench" in his father's hat 
shop. Beyond this very humble instruc- 
tion his acquisitions were all his own. 

At the age of seventeen he was appren- 
ticed to a carriage maker. It was not long 
before he began to feel the need of a better 
education. He longed to find a way 
whereby his aspirations and hopes might 
be gratified. In vain he sought to find an 
institution where he could gain such in- 
struction as he felt the need of in his daily 
toil. There were no night schools, no read- 
ing-rooms, no free libraries, no free lec- 
tures, open to young apprentices or me- 
chanics. They, as a class, had no social 
standing. The majority of apprentices 
were "bound out" to hard and often unfeel- 
ing "task-masters," treated but little better 
than brutes, while the sons of the rich were 
lavishly provided with the best social ad- 
vantages that wealth and position could 
command. The best lectures, the best 
musical entertainments, the best libraries, 



How to Achieve Success. 307 

opened to the "knock" of these favored 
sons. The doors of the best colleges and 
universities were ever open to welcome 
them to the best they had to offer. All this 
weighed heavily upon the mind of young 
Cooper. To apprentices and the "greasy 
mechanics" he saw over the doors of these 
institutions the ominous handwriting, 
"Positively no admittance here." It stirred 
his great sympathetic soul to the lowest 
depths. This proscription, this galling 
yoke of bondage, must and shall be broken 
if "I am prospered." He made a plan in 
his mind whereby this much neglected and 
despised class might be lifted up and out 
of their unhappy condition and might have 
the opportunities of becoming "masters of 
the situation," instead of slaves, and be able 
to compete with the best educated talent of 
the world. This was the life plan of Mr. 
Cooper, an object to which all his efforts 
converged. The iron had pierced his soul, 
and he was in dead earnest. He was awake 
to the magnitude of this great undertaking, 
and gave it his untiring energies, body and 
soul. He was well aware of the heavy bur- 
dens that he must carry during years of 
hard work before his sanguine hopes and 
expectations could be realized. But it 
came. Fortune smiled upon the indefat- 
igable labors of Mr. Cooper. 

In 1854 he saw the foundation laid of 



308 How to Achieve Success. 

that noble structure, the Cooper Institute, 
located at the junction of Third and Fourth 
avenues, New York City. Dedicated, "To 
be devoted forever to the union of art and 
science in their application to the useful 
purposes of life." Here the poor appren- 
tice, the "greasy mechanic," young men, 
and young women without money and 
without price, are welcome to all its ad- 
vantages. It has a great library of nearly 
twenty thousand volumes, and the best 
papers and magazines of the world are on 
its tables. Fifteen hundred persons daily 
visit the reading-rooms to gain intellectual 
food. The great hall, with a seating 
capacity of two thousand people, is thrown 
open on Saturday nights, where free lec- 
tures are given on subjects best adapted to 
the masses. In its art schools the best in- 
structors are employed, where engineering, 
drafting, drawing, chemistry, natural 
philosophy, painting, telegraphy, etc., are 
taught. 

The cost of maintaining this great insti- 
tution is over fifty thousand dollars a year. 
How comes it that such an institution has 
been so munificently endowed? Simply 
because one poor struggling apprentice boy 
felt the want of some such institution, 
while struggling in poverty to earn his 
bread during the days of his bondage, his 
great heart all the while beating in sym- 



How to Achieve Success. 309 

pathy for those who were slaves of toil, like 
himself A magnificent conception, mu- 
nificently consummated! Mr. Cooper did 
not forget when fortune smiled, his bond- 
age in the days of his affliction. He re- 
membered all and his vow, and sacredly 
fulfilled it— and more. We venture to say 
that a happier man never walked the streets 
of New York than was Mr. Cooper when 
he saw the perfection of his preconceived 
plans in successful operation. In his de- 
clining years it was Mr. Cooper's delight to 
visit the institute daily and witness the 
earnest students hard at work, making the 
most of their opportunities. It will never 
be known how many worthy applicants 
who had not a dollar to pay for their board 
were permitted to complete their studies. 
Mr. Cooper's heart never grew cold and 
callous. 

How does such a life compare with the 
great railroad manipulators, whose coffers 
are filled from the hard earnings of the la- 
borer, the mechanic, the savings of the 
widow and the orphan? Compare Mr. 
Cooper's life work with those who count 
their wealth by millions. Whose name 
will be cherished — embalmed — in the hearts 
of thousands of young men and young 
women? Around whose monument will 
gather those whose love and affection will 
be manifested by the tear-drop that will 



310 How to Achieve Success. 

steal away from an overflowing fountain, 
in loving remembrance of a dear friend and 
benefactor? Whose name will outlive the 
most costly and long-enduring monument? 
Methinks the name of Peter Cooper will 
shine brightly when the monuments of rail- 
road kings and all those who have amassed 
great wealth hoarding it up solely to 
gratify a selfish, sordid nature — of those 
who, destitute of a single spark of human 
sympathy, can spend a hundred thousand 
dollars for an evening party for self-glory, 
but have not a dollar to give poor starving 
humanity, or for any worthy object — will 
have crumbled into dust. Such a man as 
Peter Cooper needs no monument to keep 
him from being forgotten. His name is 
immortal. It will go down the centuries 
with a bright halo of unfading glory. We 
cannot think of a more appropriate motto 
than this to inscribe on his monument, "Go 
thou and do likewise." If such a monu- 
ment with such an inscription was placed 
at the head of Wall street, the great money 
centre of this continent, we are inclined to 
think that those money kings who daily 
gamble in stocks in that locality would per- 
haps for once stop to read the inscription, 
but forever after "pass by on the other 
side." 

The reader may ask why this long article 
over a man who is dead and gone. For the 



How to Achieve Success. 311 

best of all reasons — for an illustration of 
what one man accomplished for himself 
and the world, commencing, as he did, at 
the foot of the ladder, and by his own force 
of character reaching the highest round. 
We challenge the world to produce an ex- 
ample parallel to this from the ranks of 
those born in affluence. The same route 
which he traveled is open for every young 
man to enter upon, to make the best result 
possible — the most of himself. The great 
secret of Mr. Cooper's success was in hav- 
ing a plan on which he concentrated all 
his energy, never turning to the right nor 
left, but keeping on the straight course 
until the goal was reached, his great work 
centered upon this one thing — a sublime 
purpose. 

"As a man purposeth in his heart, so is he." 

Weigh well and carefully the probabil- 
ities, the possibilities, of how it will affect 
your future should you make a mistake in 
choosing a life purpose. Young man, have 
you a purpose? 

"Live for something. Thousands of men 
breathe, move, and live, pass off the stage 
of life, and are heard of no more. Why? 
None were blessed by them; none could 
point to them as the means of their re- 
demption ; not a line they wrote, not a word 
they spoke, could be recalled, and so they 



312 How to Achieve Success. 

perished; their light went out in darkness, 
and they were not remembered more than 
were the insects of yesterday. Will you 
thus live and die, O man immortal? Live 
for something. Do good, and leave behind 
you a monument of virtue, which the 
storms of time can never destroy. Write 
your name in kindness, love, and mercy, 
on the hearts of those who come in contact 
with you, and you will never be forgotten. 
Good deeds will shine as brightly on earth 
as the stars of heaven." — Dr. Chalmers. 

Have for your motto, "Higher! forever 
higher!" 



How to Achieve Success. 313 

THE DELUSIONS OF THE AGE. 

THE "MIRAGE." 

We were once traveling in a country 
where this fantastic delusion played around 
us occasionally, to our supreme delight. 
Indifferent and obscure objects would ap- 
pear along the horizon, wonderfully trans- 
formed. Scrubby brush, a foot or two 
high, loomed up like a forest of tall timber. 
Grass less than six inches high would be 
elongated to tall reeds, and would seem to 
be running a swift race. Soil that was red 
would present all the appearance of a 
raging, flaming fire. Men and animals 
would pass through wonderful transforma- 
tions, assuming many curious and comical 
shapes. 

The water illusion to the poor, weary, 
thirsty, perishing traveler, is terrible, awful 
to think of — the climax of human suffer- 
ing. For days he has been anxiously seek- 
ing for water, and all at once before his 
eager eyes appear beautiful lakelets, stud- 
ded with islands, with fine shade trees 
gracing the shores. Excitedly he exclaims, 
"Water! water! it is found at last!" The 
desired boon is just before him. Ten min- 
utes' walk and his raging thirst will be 
quenched. He bounds forward with new 
vigor, but soon discovers that the lake 



314 How to Achieve Success. 

which seemed so near remains just as far 
away. He stops and looks again and 
again, and says, ''Surely there is water; it is 
a flowing river." He sees the waves rise 
and fall, as gentle zephyrs play over them, 
sparkling in the sunlight. He almost 
thinks he hears the rippling waves as they 
lave the nearer shore. On he goes with in- 
creasing speed, if it were possible, that the 
sooner his burning, maddened thirst may 
be assuaged. He goes on; so does the 
phantom. In the burning heat of mid-day 
he falters, gasps for breath; his tongue is 
parched, swollen, and ceases to articulate. 
Reason trembles in the balance; his eyes 
are fixed, and with fingers pointing to the 
illusion, to him so real, he lies down to die. 
On the margin of that other river, to him 
unseen, his weary, weary, feet halted. 



No word in our language, perhaps, car- 
ries with it greater weight than the word 
"thirst." It is one of the words the mean- 
ing of which changes not. It is used to 
express all human wants, whether of body, 
mind, or soul — intensified in the superla- 
tive degree. 

There is no physical suffering more ter- 
rible to endure, no death more wful to die, 
than that of burning thirst. Sailors ship- 
wrecked upon the open sea know its hor- 



How to Achieve Success. 315 

rors. Vambery, in his travels in Central 
Asia, describes most graphically the scenes 
he witnessed there. He says: "Two of our 
companions having exhausted all their 
water, fell so sick that we were forced to 
bind them at full length upon the camels, 
as they were perfectly incapable of riding 
or sitting. We covered them, and as long 
as they were able to articulate, they kept 
exclaiming, 'Water! Water!' — the only 
words that escaped their lips. Alas! even 
their best friends denied them the life-dis- 
pensing draught. On the fourth day one 
of them was freed by death from the dread- 
ful torments of thirst. It was a horrible 
sight to see the father hide his store of 
water from the son, and brother from 
brother; each drop is life, and when men 
feel the torture of thirst there is not, as in 
the dangers of life, any spirit of self-sacri- 
fice, or any feeling of generosity." 

The word thirst is very frequently used 
figuratively when speaking of an intense 
desire, or craving, for any special object. 
Thus we say, "He thirsts for revenge;" 
"Thrists after happiness;" "He seeks his 
keeper's flesh and thirsts for his blood." 
One of the ineffable joys of heaven is por- 
trayed by the statement that, "They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more." 
That rs to say, that every longing shall be 
satisfied. Earth affords no such boon. 



316 How to Achieve Success. 

The world is full of thirsty people — 
thirsting for something they do not pos- 
sess, a craving for something beyond their 
grasp. The mirage holds out the most 
tantalizing appearances to the poor traveler 
dying of thirst. It allures him along only 
to mock him at last in the throes of death. 
Some persons are permitted to reach the 
fountain they sought to reach, to drink 
deep thereof, only to find at last that it is a 
bitter fountain. No man who has had a 
burning thirst for gold, or for wealth, and 
who has exceeded his first mark, was ever 
satisfied with it. The same burning thirst, 
intensified, calls for more continually, and 
will not be satisfied. The pleasures of life 
afford no fountain at which its votaries can 
satiate their thirst. The man of ambition 
"fired up" to "white heat," finds no cool, 
refreshing stream where he may quench 
the "fire within." The political aspirants, 
thirsting for office, even if they obtain the 
office they sought, are unable to slake their 
thirst in the enjoyment of its honors. 
When they reach the first round of their 
aspirations, they discover a round higher, 
and so they thirst for that one, and are 
never satisfied. 

THIRSTING FOR FAME. 

Doctor X., after having accumulated a 
princely fortune, thirsted for the honors of 



How to Achieve Success. 317 

the world. He sought to have himself im- 
mortalized by having towns and cities bear 
his name. He gave a large sum of money 
to a village corporation to induce its citi- 
zens to drop the original name, and to take 
his name instead. He thirsted for political 
honors. He aspired to have "Hon." in 
front, or "M. C." at the end of his name. 
He labored assiduously, and spent his 
money lavishly to get the nomination for a 
representative to congress, but was always 
defeated. It was a great and sore disap- 
pointment to Doctor X. It incapacitated 
him for any business. His friends carried 
him to a private medical institution for 
treatment. The shock to his system, how- 
ever, had been too great to yield to reme- 
dies. He lingered a few months and died 
— died of an unquenchable thirst for hon- 
ors that money could not purchase. He 
sought to drink from a fountain that 
seemed to him so near and inviting — just a 
little way from him. The delusive mirage 
danced before him most bewitchingly, al- 
luring him on, and inspiring him with san- 
guine anticipations and expectations of 
soon reaching that fountain, and there slak- 
ing his burning thirst. No, never! Hon- 
ors of the world never satisfy. 

Does wealth satisfy? Will it quench all 
thirst, appease all cravings of the body, of 
mind, and of soul? No! It never has; it 



318 How to Achieve Success. 

never will. Doctor X. had wealth in abund- 
ance. He left an estate of over ten millions 
of dollars. With his vast possessions he 
was beyond earthly necessity — for with his 
money he could supply every physical need. 
There was no luxury he could not purchase 
that could in any way conduce to his best 
and fullest enjoyment of life. 

THIRSTING FOR HONORS. 
What's fame? 
A fancied life in other's breath : 
A thing beyond us, e'en before our death. — Pope. 

Horace Greeley was born in a humble 
home, in poverty. At sixteen years of age 
he started out for himself, penniless. For 
years his success was anything but encour- 
aging. With indomitable energy he la- 
bored on until he became the editor-in- 
chief of the New York Tribune. The posi- 
tion did not satisfy him very long. He 
thirsted for something beyond — to drink at 
another fountain. He set his affections 
upon the highest office in the land — the 
presidency of the United States. The 
mirage played most charmingly before him, 
and the more he speculated upon the delu- 
sion the greater assurance he had of its 
being what it seemed, and to be so near to 
him that there was no question as to his 
ability, to drink to his full of public favor. 
The thirst increased as time drew near 
when the verdict of the people was to de- 



How to Achieve Success. 319 

cide who was to be the successful man. It 
was a short and spirited race. Mr. Greeley 
concentrated his entire energies, soul and 
body, to win the race. He failed. He was 
a disappointed man. The presidential 
mirage proved a terrible delusion to him. 
He fell into a stupor soon after the result 
was known, from which he never rallied, 
and his death followed in a very few davs. 

" What shall I do lest life in silence pass? " 

And if it do, 
And never prompt the bray of noisy brass, 

What need' st thou rue ? 
Remember aye the ocean's deeps are mute : 

The shallows roar ; 
Worth is the ocean — Fame is the bruit 

Along the shore. 

" What shall I do to be forever known? " 

Thy duty ever ; 
" This did full many who yet sleep unknown." — 

Oh ! never, never ! 
Think'st thou perchance that they remain unknown 

Whom thou know'st not? 
By angel trumps in heaven their praise is blown, 

Divine their lot. 

"What shall I do to gain eternal life ? " 

Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife, 

Yea, with thy might. 
Ere perfect scheme of action thou devise, 

Will life be fled, 
While he who ever acts as conscience cries 

Shall live, though dead. — Schiller. 

Every young man of ordinary good 
sense is anxious to learn in advance what 



320 How to Achieve Success. 

he can of his future, his fortune, and the 
happiness or sorrow, success or failure, 
that await him before the problem of life 
9hall have been fully solved. It is perfectly 
right and proper that he should be anxious 
to rightly comprehend the ever-increasing 
responsibilities as the years come and go; 
responsibilities that he cannot escape or 
delegate to any human being. 

Look not mournfully into the past, it cannot 
come back; wisely improve the present, it is thine; 
go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear 
and with a manly heart. — Longfellow. 

There is a sure road to success. - Go 
bravely forward and fearlesslv meet the re- 
sponsibilities of life as they shall arise, with 
the full determination to yield to none. 
Bear your own burdens cheerfully and 
with courage. Surmount all obstacles that 
are hindrances, though they may be simply 
blessings in disguise. Aim for something 
higher at each advancing step, thereby de- 
veloping increasing power to achieve vic- 
tory. Thus every step lifts you one degree 
higher — higher and nearer to the goal. 
So live that when thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan that moves 
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave, at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 

— Bryant. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 




«! LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 593 551 7 
>t nun n 

TO ACHIEVE 
SUCCESS 










* 



* 






